Iced Malice
by Darkwarrior1010
Summary: When Gray betrays Fairy Tail and becomes an enemy of the guild, Juvia has to try and find him and find out the truth. Just why would Gray betray Fairy Tail? Gruvia with a little bit of NaLu, GaLe and other pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone, gah I already have 3 other fanfictions to work on but this was just screaming to be posted. I will hopefully post every other week or weekly but I will try to get around to updating whenever possible. **

**My favorite pairing is NaLu, but I thought of this idea and couldn't resist. And sorry if my info is wrong or time is messed up or anything, I am still trying to fully catch up to the newest chapter/episode of fairy tail. **

**Please Read and Review and enjoy the beginning to "Iced Malice".**

**The cover is from the Manga, but wonderful Miss BrigitteoO. Thank her for providing us with wonderful colored manga images!**

**The chapter has been edited and is better, I hope you guys enjoy it.**

"Ugh," she growled in exasperation. "Why are we on a mission again already?" Her eyes were filled with irritation at her team.

They were strolling through the forests on the outskirts of Magnolia, home to the Fairy Tail guild. Green and brown foliage filled the edges of Lucy's vision as she and the rest of the team moved through the forest.

"Oh, come on, Lucy. You know you aren't too mad at us," Natsu replied, he put up a puppy dog face, making her sigh hard. Erza laughed a bit, earning a hostile look from Lucy. It didn't matter how hard Natsu tried, Lucy didn't even face him at his attempts to settle her.

Happy grinned and purred, "Hmmm, looks like there is looooove in the air."

This only made Lucy's face turn as red as Erza's hair and start muttering. "Stupid cat."

"Don't make her any more mad than she already is, ash breath," Gray taunted. Natsu spun around and raised his fists at Gray.

"Wanna go, ice princess?" he challenged. Gray rolled his eyes in reply. The two faced each other like two angry cats threatening each other, it was somewhat amusing.

"Silence. We are on a mission, remember?" Erza snapped at them.

The two rivals stammered in unison, then agreed, "Aye!" The colors had drained from their faces, and they shook slightly in fear of the armored mage.

Lucy sighed and watched her teammates bicker. It wasn't any use really being mad, she supposed that a couple days of resting were enough. But doing jobs with these guys was a dangerous thing in itself, Lucy was sure that they already shaved a few years off of her life! It didn't matter, she would just have to go on with the mission.

It was just a normal mission for team Natsu. Their job was to defeat some bandits that were hiding in the outskirts of Magnolia. It didn't seem that hard of a mission, but although they were both nearby and small in number there was an unusually high reward.

Gray had shown them the mission, mentioning how Lucy's rent would be due tomorrow and she really needed the money. The funny thing was that none of the other guild members remember seeing that assignment on the board. Not even Mira had noticed it, and she knew of every request that was and was not on the board.

None of them would have expected what was about to happen…

After walking through Magnolia they finally reached the warehouse where the bandits were supposedly at. The warehouse ended up being located on the border between the town and the forest that surrounded the city. It was worn down and abandoned; it seemed the roof had caved in at one point on the top floor and vines had crept around it. It made everyone uneasy.

"Ewww, this place gives me the creeps," Lucy complained. Erza and the others just shrugged.

"All the more reason for us to do this faster," Gray spoke quickly and flippantly.

Natsu, being the no-brained idiot that charges into everything, walked up and kicked the old and rotting door down. The rest of the group walked in behind him. It was dark except for the few rays of sunlight that came in through the windows. If it was brighter they might have noticed something important.

"Eh Gray there's no one here!" Natsu shouted, not really caring if anyone heard him. Silence. "Gray?"

"Gray! Why aren't you answering?" Erza asked sternly and looked behind her shoulder. The ice stripper was gone though. "Gra… Gra… Gray!" She stuttered.

"Where's Gray?" Happy asked, sounding worried. He flew up and landed on Natsu's shoulder and looked around in panic.

A hard, cold chuckling sent shivers down the teams sides. Two cobalt blue eyes glowed in the darkness above them. The lights on the wall turned on automatically to reveal the bandits that were supposed to be there. A large man, obviously the leader, stood on the second floor. The spot overlooked the first floor giving him a clear view of his targets. The man was also the owner of those cobalt eyes.

But what really startled them was the person standing next to the leader.

The person had spikey black hair. He also had blue eyes that was a complete contrast from the leader's cobalt ones that gazed down at them. The most obvious sign however was the lack of clothes the person was wearing. A pair of black pants with boots and a large gray cross necklace was all he wore. A cocky smirk topped it off.

"Gray? What are you doing up there with him?" Happy cried. Natsu, Erza and Lucy just stared at him, frozen with shock.

"Is that any of your business, Happy?" Gray asked. His eyes were cold and expressionless. "Ice make: Bow." A bow of ice appeared in Gray's hands. "Ice Make: Arrows!" With a bow and arrows Gray aimed and fired upon his teammates.

"Come on guys, attack," growled the leader, his voice as cold as Gray's magic. The bandits sprang into combat.

Erza was the first one to snap out of her paralysis. She grabbed Natsu and Lucy and threw them to the ground along with herself. The arrows struck the spot where they used to be and Lucy gulped. What was happening?

The four remaining members of team Natsu had to quickly get up and scatter as the wave of bandits hit them. They weren't small in number! There were at least thirty bandits! And that was just the thugs! A couple stronger looking bandits stood right next to their leader with smug expressions.

They had no time to move, and the bandits grabbed Erza and Natsu. Lucy was missed, though only because she had the sense to summon one of her spirits as she was getting off the ground.

"Open gate of the golden bull: Taurus." A sound like a doorbell rang through the room, and Taurus burst forth in a circle of light and looked at Lucy. He scanned her skinny body approvingly before turning and raising his axe to the bandits and mooing a war cry.

"You shall not touch such a nice body!" Taurus boomed as he swung his axe around, taking out a bandit every time. Lucy took out her Fleuve d'étoiles and started fighting too, hitting anyone who could make it past Taurus.

Natsu meanwhile broke out of the bandits hold and were punching them fiercely. His fists had burst into flame and every throw meant someone fell down. Erza was in her Heaven's wheel armor and was sending summoned blades at the bandits, wiping them out mercilessly. However, her attention was focused on something else.

Gray was no longer there…

"Wha-" Erza stated before gritting her teeth and flying upward, instantly getting zapped by someone's magic and crashing into the ground. "Whoever these bandits are... they aren't ordinary bandits," Erza whispered.

The leader laughed and shouted at her. "Ordinary bandits? Oh ho, no, Titania, this is the dark guild Hellfire Imp, and you're not going anywhere." At Erza's confused look he laughed again and continued. "I wonder how good of a price you, Natsu and that Heartfilia girl will fetch me." Lucy's huff of dismay could be heard from somewhere in the room as she realized that these guys didn't know her name at all.

"No one will pay your silly ransom, Fairy Tail will come for us!" Erza snarled in anger. Once again she cried out in pain as someone's magic zapped her. Who was doing that?

"Really? Even if Fairy Tail doesn't know that you are here? After all, I know Gray made sure not to tell anyone else where you guys went." Erza gasped. The trapped was planned perfectly, with Gray setting it up it worked perfectly. "Or I could always make you guys slaves to our guild, you would make the most perfect assassins!" He cackled insanely.

Natsu growled and tried to reach the leader but was thrown back by more of the dark mages. Lucy watched in shock as she realized they were losing. Erza looked trapped on the spot, unable to move and just having to watch the battle taking place, Natsu was being overwhelmed and held back. Happy let out a screech as the mages roughly grabbed him, throwing him against the wall and tying him with magical rope. While mages were walking up to Lucy, Taurus just barely holding them back.

"I cannot protect you Lucy for much longer! You have to flee!" He shouted at his master, who was scrambling backwards in panic.

"Lucy! Go back to the Guild and warn them!" Erza shouted.

"No! I can't! Not while you guys are here and captured."

"Luce, please!" The pained yell from Natsu broke through her defenses. Tears fell from her eyes in full force and she ran out as fast as she could. Taurus still hammering those that tried to follow. Gray's betrayal had truly shaken the group, left them vulnerable just when they needed help. No, they needed help _because_ of his betrayal.

Oh, may Mavis help them all.

* * *

><p>Juvia was sitting in her usual spot at the guild. Thinking about Gray, she worried about him. The mission team Natsu just left on was awfully shady, and Juvia didn't want any of them, even her love rival Lucy, to be wiped out.<p>

Gray should be home soon though, if the mission had gone well. Juvia sighed. _Juvia worries about Gray-sama, oh I so hope that Juvia can see lovely Gray-sama again soon safe and uninjured._ She instantly had a small dream about Gray coming home.

"_Oh Juvia, I almost died back there for being so foolish to take such a dark looking job," Gray told her lovingly. "But my thoughts of you kept me fighting so I was able to defeat them. I am so glad I have you," He smiled at her warmly while she seemingly melted under his gaze._

"_Gray-sama… I don't know what to say…" Juvia responded, equally passionate._

Juvia sighed and got up, walking over to the only person who could potentially give her a straight solid answer… even though it might be horrid.

"Cana, Juvia wants a reading for Gray-sama. Juvia worries for him greatly," Juvia pleaded with the surprisingly just buzzed card mage. Cana just shrugged and set down the cards. She waited for a few moments with closed eyes as she was deep in her thoughts. When she opened them her eyes were clear and focused. She slowly flipped three cards up and looked at them warily.

Her eyes basically leapt out of their sockets when she read them. She gasped and raised a hand to her mouth in surprise, knocking over a cup of beer in the process. This worried Juvia, who stared in horror at the card mage's reaction.

"Juvia needs to know! What is happening to Gray-sama," Juvia pressed.

"The first card is a high priestess. He's being forced to do something, something he doesn't seem to particularly want to do," Cana told her with a now emotionless expression.

"The second card, is the card of betrayal. It is the three swords! Gray is going through some kind of betrayal." Juvia waited to hear the last card, though at the same time she thought it just might be better if she didn't hear it at all. _Juvia must do this for Gray-sama!_ She promised herself mentally.

"The last card is the two of cups, he will form a bond with a woman in the future. One that is inseparable, normally I would consider this one good. But with the other two cards I'm not sure how things are going to turn out. Be careful Juvia, something is about to happen, something dark." Cana's eyes held only seriousness and darkness. But her expression also showed the concern and worry underneath.

_Does this mean that Juvia will be with Gray-sama in the end? Or another woman? Oh I don't think Juvia could stand Gray-sama being with another woman!_

Juvia had gotten up and was heading to go get a drink from Mira, normally she didn't drink but the thought of the pain her love was about to go through was too strong. Cana put her hand on Juvia's shoulder.

"Good luck Juvia, I wish it for Gray as well," was all Cana could say.

Juvia went and ordered her drink, she took a sip when someone came in, slamming the door and panting heavily.

"HELP!" Lucy screamed, getting the attention of everyone in the guild. They all stared at the worn-out blonde. Juvia felt a chill go down her spine and her blood run cold. _No… This is bad… Juvia knows this is bad…_

"Lucy, what's going on?" Mirajane asked quickly, asking the question that was flashing through everyone's mind.

"Bandits… No! Dark guild… Gray… Betrayed us… Natsu and Erza… Captured… Sent for help!" Lucy's words were broken up as she gulped for breath between her words. It was obvious she had ran all the way from the warehouse, something that would leave Juvia out of breath too.

_Gray-sama? Betrayed them? Impossible! Juvia would never believe such a thing. _But one look into Lucy's eyes and Juvia could tell she wasn't joking.

"Gray? Our Gray betrayed his friends?" Mirajane asked, Lucy just nodded. Juvia could feel Cana's unsurprised look and silently began hoping that it was all just a big misunderstanding. Murmurs began breaking out amongst the guild members.

"So he got that mission for you guys, then led you into a trap?" Gajeel muttered suspiciously.

"Leading teammates into a trap? That's not a man!" Elfman declared.

Then the master came in.

"If Gray truly betrayed the group, then he can no longer be considered a Fairy Tail mage," Makarov said quietly, though his face showed the heavy emotions he was feeling.

"Gray-sama did not betray fairy tail!" Juvia shouted angrily. The gazes of everyone, including Lucy, focused on her. "Gray-sama wouldn't do it of his own accord, NEVER!"

"But Juvia... he did," Lucy stated. Juvia started shaking in anger. As she walked across the guild hall, the members cleared a path for the furious water mage. Nearing Lucy, Juvia offered a sharp glare, then... a slap across the face.

"Gray-sama would never do such a thing!" _Juvia knows deep in her heart that her beloved Gray-sama would never do this for no reason. Does Fairy Tail really have such little faith in his loyalty?_

"Um.. Um… I don't think Gray would do it either…" said Wendy timidly. Charla was floating in the air searching the air for Happy, but her eyes held horror when she noticed him gone.

Pantherlily was standing on a table with a thoughtful expression, but didn't make any comments.

"Juvia." The rough voice of the guild master made her turn around slowly.

"What?" Juvia responded coldly.

"Silence, child. While Gray doesn't seem to be the kind of person to do this, I have to do what's best for the guild. And fairy tail does not tolerate traitors," Makarov told her calmly. His eyes showed a mix of confusion and unease. But the evidence could not be denied.

"Very well, then Juvia will leave!" Juvia shouted at her former guild. Their eyes widened with surprise and hurt. Even Gajeel, who took a few steps forward and reached out a hand to stop his friend who also used to be a former Phantom Lord mage.

"Juvia will go and find Gray-sama and bring him back completely innocent, Juvia will not be back till Gray-sama is," Juvia stated in a calm, deadly voice. And the water mage walked out, eyes of everyone on her.

**Please review and tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, so many people seem to like this, thank you everyone for your support! Sorry this chapter is more about Gray and Natsu, with emphasis on Natsu. I know you want to see some Juvia and Gray action but I feel an explanation of what is going on with the imprisoned team Natsu is important. **

**I am up to the grand magic games arc, I don't know anything that happens past that. I've been catching up with my boyfriend, he loves the show too lol! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! **

**Please Read and Review. As well as enjoy the second chapter of Iced Malice!**

In the still forest a half-naked man walked through without a thought. He didn't even mentally complain or groan about the freezing weather. He didn't feel the cold. With a sigh he kicked over some rocks and looked up at the sky. Seeing the glittering night stars memories finally flashed through his previously blank mind.

He thought of a familiar stellar mage who could summon those stars, one who was cute, vain, and probably in chains at the moment_._ He ran his hand through his messy black hair, the other gently tracing the scar on his side.

He thought of how cold it would be, and instantly thought of the opposite of his ice magic: Natsu, his best friend and rival. Who was no doubt fighting to escape and failing from the strength of Hellfire Imp. He would probably try to break out instantly, and the man grudgingly admitted that since it was Natsu then it might actually succeed, but not get far.

The scar reminded him of Erza, who he had seen trying to fight the leader and catch up to him, only to be shocked back down each time. She wouldn't give up, but they would break her. The woman who had been through so much and had even been a captive slave as a child, would have to repeat such a past.

Even a small blue cat flashed upon his eyes, Happy who might have escaped under the chaos. But chances are that he wouldn't have gotten far, Hellfire Imp always enjoyed beating animals. Animal abuse was one of their things.

A splashing sound alerted him to the puddle he just stepped in. The man froze and stared at it. _J…J… Juvia… I left you behind too._ The water mage who was so clearly dedicated to him, just as guilt washed over him thankfulness fought it back. He wouldn't have been able to forgive himself if Juvia had known about his plans and decided to help him with them. Not that he could really forgive himself right now anyway.

No doubt once the guild found out then he would be marked as a criminal and a traitor, he would never be able to step foot in the guild hall he had loved since he was a small boy. Not ever again… But _HE_ said that by doing this Fairy Tail would get stronger… More prepared... After all, he was helping Fairy Tail in a way.

And even though the ice-make mage's heart shouldn't be so shatterable, ditching his friends made his heart turn to ice then drop to the ground. It broke into frigid fragments that hurt with every movement. _Is this what betrayal is like? Being stabbed in the heart with every breath… Every motion…_

He had never felt as cold as he did then, when the full realization of what had just transpired hit him. He fell to his knees and stared in horror at the ground. Then clenched his fists and just as quickly got back up. He would deal with it and continue doing what he had to. It wasn't as if he had any more of a choice.

He hadn't even wanted to leave, or to see them suffer since between Fairy Tail's strength and Hellfire Imp's strategies and abilities that made both the sides evenly matched. But the dark guild had a few trump cards that undoubtingly turned the advantage to Hellfire Imp. Though Gray himself still didn't understand it.

He began walking again, each step taking him farther from his friends. He knew he had to not just chill his heart, but freeze it. He had to make sure that he was the bad guy… For their sake…

His name was Gray… Formerly of Fairy Tail…

* * *

><p>Natsu sat in a cell. He was beaten and bloody from the rough treatment of the dark wizards and now just sat on his cot in deep thought. <em>What the hell Gray? What was that right there?<em> He was tied up in chains. They had his hands and feet chained to the three walls of the room, with plenty of chain available to move around his 'new home'.

Natsu thought for a moment about Gray being controlled or something but then he recalled what Gray was wearing… Or rather wasn't wearing. _He had no clothes; he was himself and is fully serious. What's going on?_ He punched the wall behind him in anger. Natsu yelled his rage and pain aloud through the bars of the cell.

"Natsu! Are you alright?" called Erza, who from the sounds of it was a couple cells down.

"Yea Erza I'm fine, are you?" Natsu responded.

"Yea…"

"Where's Happy?" Natsu hoped desperately that Happy was in another one of these cells. But his hot blood chilled when she answered.

"No, I can't see him and I am sure you can't smell him."

Natsu scented the air and confirmed her words. Happy wasn't in here at all. Good thing Lucy escaped. _Luce! I hope she made it, I would kill these guys and send them to hell if they hurt her!_ For a while now Natsu had been feeling… Differently… About his blond friend. But no matter how hard he thought about it he couldn't tell what the feeling was. Natsu cared about Lucy greatly, but then again he cared for all of his comrades. So what was so different about the caring feelings he felt for Lucy?

Natsu groaned and pulled against his chains, hissing in pain as they didn't break free and just hurt his wrists even more. He had to get out of here; he was going to make them pay! He had too!

What had gone wrong back there at the warehouse? Those were average wizards fighting against the strongest mage team in Fiore but they were still captured. He… He… Natsu's head was cloudy and hurt like hell. It had since he first stepped foot in the warehouse. He couldn't even think straight!

"Roar of the fire dragon!" the dragon mage breathed fire at the gate, only to have it disperse before even nearing the gates. He growled with frustration and charged it, only to be forced back by the impact. Natsu felt the familiar drain of energy from the attack, except it drained even more than it usually did.

"Natsu! Control yourself!" commanded Erza.

"Shut up."

"No Natsu, you need to save your strength… There's no way to get out of here I already tried a little bit ago, deal with it."

Natsu just growled again and turned away from the door and towards the back wall, he could swear that one of these dark mages were watching him and laughing somewhere. But he didn't care, all he could think about was his friends back at the guild. At least if Lucy made it then she would have warned them, then he could guarantee that they would try and save them. Defeat weighed down slightly upon Natsu and he let out a sigh, closing his fists softly.

But even after they were freed Natsu still had one more thing he needed to do, and it had to do with that certain ice-make mage that had left them. He would find Gray and ask him about what was going on. Gray, even though he betrayed them, must have had a reason to do so.

His memories flickered to when him and Gray were just kids, they fought and fought while Erza scolded them, only to have Erza attack Mirajane a second later and they would brawl as well. Which would inevitably lead to a full scale fight amongst the guild, but they would all be satisfied by the end.

Natsu and Gray would compete over everything, but no matter how stupid it was the young dragon slayer would not regret or brush off any competition with him as insignificant. That's it, he wasn't just going to sit here and rot away, he was going to break out of here and knock some sense into that stripper's mind.

"Hey, Erza."

"Yea?" came the reply, it sounded a bit off, and Natsu was sure that the red-haired woman was depressed.

"We ARE going to get out of here, I am sure of it," Natsu laughed, it sounded ridiculous… Probably was in their current situation. But his laughing cheered up both him and Erza, and strengthened their resolve.

"Of course Natsu, after all, who's going to tell the guild about this new dark guild?" Erza responded confidently. They are Fairy Tail wizards, nothing will break them.

"I wonder if Happy is alright," Natsu thought aloud sadly.

"Happy? Yea, I hope he is too," Erza let out a sigh that floated through the otherwise silent, empty air. "I want cake…"

"Ummm why?"

"Because I want my damn strawberry cake!" Erza yelled. _Yea, I'm starving, I wish there was some fire around here to eat. Erza must be starving too._

A mumbling could be heard and the rustling of chains sounded across from Natsu's cell. It sounded like an old man, there was a couple curses tossed into the air as the man got up from his bed. Amber eyes stared at Natsu and more grumbling ensured.

"Youngsters these days… Don't have the sense to be quiet when an elder is sleeping. But then again, who has the sense to lock people up in the first place?" the man groaned. Natsu's black eyes focused on the man curiously. _Who is this guy? Whoever he is he's seen better days._

The man was old, extremely old. He had a long white beard and long white hair that reached down to his shoulders. His neck, hands and legs were chained to the wall like Natsu's. He wore a green tattered woven tunic and pants that looked like they were neatly homemade, before they became torn.

"You, boy, why are you and that pretty lady a few cells down in a place like this?" he asked gruffly.

"Excuse me and sorry for waking you sir, we were just captured by this guild." It wasn't Natsu who answered but Erza, who didn't want to make the man even angrier by letting Natsu reply.

"Really? Well I suppose the girl has some manners, but it was you who yelled in the first place correct?"

"Yes sir, sorry." Erza sounded apologetic, but Natsu knew that she would still want her cake. The man just chuckled roughly and spat on the ground.

"What are your names?" The old man scrutinized the both of them carefully, his old hawk eyes taking in every detail. _It wasn't as if he probably had anything better to do, he is in a cell. _Natsu thought.

"Well old man, my name is Natsu, the girl down there who is rudely leaving me out of this conversation is Erza." Natsu could hear the old man snickering and Erza's sigh of exasperation.

"Whatever, I think I like the girl better. My name is Bartemius. I'm a slave wizard," Bartemius muttered. His gaze had turned dark and lacked hope, Natsu felt sorry for the old man. A slave wizard? So the whole purpose of his life and magic was to be used however these Hellfire-whatever mages wished.

"It is good to meet you Bartemius, how did you end up here?" Erza tried to continue as if Natsu hadn't made his comment but he was sure that the red-haired demon would scold him later.

"Ha, I've been here since my nephew, Apollion, locked me up here." At Natsu's confused look Bartemius continued. "Apollion is the leader of this guild. I raised him after his parents died of a bad case of magical overflow, they died after two years of contracting it and I had to look after him, he was only two at the time." Bartemius had a couple tears flowing down his face, and Natsu thought about his foster parent, Igneel.

Natsu would never harm Igneel, unlike this Apollion guy. But Apollion's parents dying at age two, then locking up the only person who took care of him? Natsu shook his head in anger and let out a growl. Bartemius's attention turned from his rambling to Natsu, his gaze weary as if he expected the boy to charge him at any moment, then he went back to the story.

"But after Apollion reached eighteen years old he left for two years, he convinced me to follow him when he came back since he said he would take care of me in my later years. But what he really meant I guess was throwing me in jail to help his dark guild." Bartemius laughed dryly and humorlessly before going on. "I've been here ever since."

"I am very sorry sir, what a horrible thing to have your own family betray you. Sadly we have just went through the same thing with our friend." Natsu flinched at Erza's comment, the stinging feeling lingering.

"Yea, sorry about the luck, both yours and ours," Natsu said, surprising both Erza and Bartemius. The white haired slave nodded and just looked down at the ground sullenly. "But we are going to get you out!"

Bartemius instantly looked up at Natsu with a surprised expression. "Thank you boy… Natsu." Natsu gave one of his reassuring toothy smiles and watched the man's frowning face smile for once, only increasing Natsu's smile.

"So Bartemius sir, do you know what they are planning?" Erza questioned Bartemius, the mission had been to stop the bandits, this was just a little more complicated.

"Yeah, though I'm sure that they are just some idiots out to go and conquer things right?" Natsu said loudly. Bartemius lost his smile and instead continued his frown.

"No, they seek to bring forth the apocalypse of prophecy," He stated solemnly.

"Ehh?" the two other mages exclaimed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Huh, not feeling much love here… Oh well, for those of you who are still enjoying this please read and review, and enjoy it. I hope you guys like this chapter better than the last one, it didn't seem to be popular I wonder if it was the lack of open Gruvia? Well this is from Juvia's PoV so it should be more pleasing, but at the same time theres not as much of a fight, more of a Juvia centric development chapter.**

**This chapter was a little hard to write for some reason, it took me longer than it normally does to write. I am not even sure I am completely satisfied with the chapter -_- well tell me what you guys think was this chapter good or too slow?**

**Also, do you guys know any songs that seem to fit the mood of Juvia and Gray? It would be really helpful since out of all the songs on my computer only a couple are love songs… I don't mind in English or Japanese but I prefer Japanese.**

Juvia walked out of the shop with a sigh. Once again no sight, smell or sound of Gray's presence in the town she was in.

Juvia was in a small town on the other side of the forest near the warehouse that Gray had supposedly lured team Natsu into, but he was nowhere to be seen. There had been reports of someone seeing a man in the forest however. Juvia was determined to find him, even if the cost was sacrifice.

Juvia no longer cared about what she had to do in order to achieve her goal. She simply wanted to be with Gray and bring him back to the guild, if she had to kill to do so she would. Loneliness washed over her as she felt, not for the first time, the pangs of both Gray's absence and the lack of her guild mates. Even if she had abandoned them she missed them so much…

_Juvia misses people…_ This was just like before she had first joined Phantom Lord, she had no one who wanted to be around her. It was amazing that the rain that used to haunt her didn't come back, but she didn't question it for long. _Gray-sama… Where are you?_

She looked over and saw a couple walking on the other side of the path. They were whispering to each other angrily and Juvia could tell that the two were having problems. Then suddenly one of them shieked.

"YOU WENT OUT WITH MY SISTER? HOW IS THAT A HONEST MISTAKE!" screamed the woman, glaring at the man as she slapped him across the face. Her auburn hair shone like flames and she didn't appear all that unpleasant to look at… But this guy was cheating on her?

"It ain't my fault you two are twins Lisa." The man shoved her away, the woman fumed and Juvia could have sworn she saw steam rising out of her ears and from her hair.

"My name is not Lisa, I am Megan," Megan said sourly.

_This man isn't faithful to this woman… This is not love at all. _Juvia watched the exchange with revelation. She had always been so devoted to Gray she forgot about what it was like when love didn't go all the way to the heart. The water girl's memories flashed up again, a dark blue haired man, clearly a player. The man had been called Bora and Juvia had thought he had loved her at the time. However she was clearly shown the error of her ways when he abruptly broke up with her, all because of the rain she didn't even want.

The man just snorted and ditched the red haired mage. He left her there with an astonished and betrayed expression. "By the way Megan, I think that its much better banging your sister than you. I think I will go enjoy her instead, she did rather say she preferred me than you."

Juvia looked closer and observed Megan. She was wearing a simple yellow-white sundress, a pretty sapphire necklace sparkled in contrast to the red of her hair and Juvia thought of how sad it was that this man had so cruelly ditched her for her own relative.

Juvia moved towards the girl and gently placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. The girl looked up at Juvia and shivered a bit at the contact and Juvia's hand quickly retreated. Megan stared at Juvia and realized how much she needed this stranger's comfort.

"That man is not very worthy of you, if he cannot be loyal to you to the very death then he is not worthy of any woman." Megan's eyes widened at the statement and only looked down slightly as tears continued to fall from her eyes.

"Really? You think so? Me and him had been going out for a couple years now, I had thought that he had loved me… But when I found him kissing my sister Lisa I realized that he didn't care about me at all," Megan explained softly.

"Juvia loves her Gray-sama very much, and will die for him. Juvia also knows he will do the same for her," Juvia stated confidently. Megan just looked at her in surprise and looked at the small watch she has.

"Juvia is it? Could you please come over to my house, I don't want to stay in here but right now… I don't think I could take being alone…" Megan's soft words persuaded the hurried water mage. Juvia had wanted to hurry and depart for the forest to find Gray but she decided that this woman needed help, she could always stay for an hour or two.

Juvia nodded and followed the auburn haired woman. They took a small path through the town till they came upon a small gray stone cottage. When they opened the door she saw a small quant room, it was nothing special and it was obvious that there was more upstairs but Megan took Juvia to her couch and sat down softly, she had stopped crying but otherwise still seemed down.

Are you a mage?" asked Magen, Juvia nodded and Magen looked a bit happier. "I always wanted to be a mage, I have been practicing some magic but without someone training me I haven't been much good so I haven't really used it in awhile… I had hoped to settle down with _him_…"

"Juvia and her love are both mages, we are from F-" The water mage broke off. Were they really still apart of Fairy Tail? Gray had left and Juvia had followed him but their guild marks were still there. Technically they still were a part of the guild but would they still count themselves as family? "We are mages."

Magen appeared confused for a moment but just shrugged and continued babbling. "I use ring magic, I am not very strong or good at it though. I can do a few things and that's about it." Magen looked downcast for a moment then just stared back at Juvia determinedly. "Can I come with you please? To get better at my magic and get away from this town?"

Juvia was shocked to say the least, this woman had just been through a breakup, invited a complete stranger into her house, and asked to go with this stranger. How desperate was this woman?

"Please, I just want to get away from this town, it will just be for a little while and I can't do it on my own because I am not powerful enough!" Magen pleaded with a desperate gleam in her eyes. This woman was heartbroken and Juvia instantly thought of Bora, she had loved first too and had hoped that someone had accepted her. Though it wasn't as if that turned out well right?

"Juvia is not just traveling; Juvia is searching for her love who is missing. Juvia will not stop till her beloved is back," Juvia stated adamantly. Her fists were clenched and she stared back with the determination building up inside of her.

"I can help you… Please? It's the only way I can escape this place and I promise that I will depart after we reach a town or two that I feel I can stay in, I will try and help you find your love." Megan gestured for Juvia to follow her and Juvia complied. The auburn haired mage brought Juvia a couple boxes, when they were opened Juvia could see the glimmer of gold and the different emblems of different kinds of rings.

Juvia watched the rings admirably and felt slightly impressed by the display. Some of the rings she had were pretty rare too. _If she hardly leaves the village then how does she get these? Some of these Loke had mentioned only are located in distant places._

"How… How did you find some of these?"

"Oh, I have my sources." The ring mage giggled lightly. She didn't reveal the whole reason though. Juvia felt curiosity bubble up and urge her to press the issue, but ignored it instead. "It will only be temporary I promise you, I just need someone to travel with to get away from my sister and my ex." Her eyes were pleading and the blunette sighed.

"Okay…"

Magen cheered and tried to hug Juvia. However she ended up going through Juvia's water body entirely as Juvia didn't solidify herself.

"Um… Ouch?" Came the muffled sound of the lady on the ground. Magen quickly started laughing and pushed herself up and Juvia gave her an amused smile.

Magen told Juvia that she would start packing and dashed up the stairs mumbling gleefully. Juvia sighed. _Juvia was hoping she could just hurry and find Gray-sama on her own… Looks like that is out of the picture, hopefully the ring mage can help Juvia find her love and maybe Magen can find something new to love as well._

Juvia walked over to the window and peered out of it, seeing the sun start to go down. There went the day of searching through the forest and finding Gray. The combined walk to Magen's cottage and the discussion had taken up more time than the water mage had thought.

Juvia waited silently as the red haired mage moved around upstairs, packing. When Magen was finally done she came down the stairs with a small body bag slung over her shoulder. Magen was wearing a black T-shirt and a pair of jeans, rings of different types decorated her pale fingers and she had a excited grin on her face.

Juvia watched Magen questioningly. "Juvia thought we were staying here for the night and leaving tomorrow?" The ring mage shook her head.

"I want to get out of this place as soon as possible, I know the forest, we can go through it just fine and besides I thought you wanted to find his guy of yours as soon as possible." Juvia thought about it for a moment and nodded back. Magen grinned widely, "then let's go!"

Juvia sweat dropped and followed the auburn haired mage out the door. It was slightly cold from the lack of sun and Juvia shivered slightly as the breeze crept in the areas where her skin wasn't protected, she noticed that Magen didn't seem bothered at all and pondered why.

"Juvia is curious, why do you not seem so cold?" Juvia asked Magen. The girl glanced at Juvia and waved a hand in the air, revealing a small gold ring with a blue and white snowflake signet.

"This ring helps prevent the cold, as long as I use it." Magen explained and lowered her hand. Juvia could tell that Magen's energy was being drained slightly, she appeared slightly more tense as if she wasn't used to the feeling. _Is Magen not used to magic? Juvia has had her magic forever, Juvia can handle her magic well._ _This woman is a weak mage, can she really help Juvia find Gray-sama?_

The two walked through the village quickly, one of them determined to leave for the sake of her goal, the other one secretly hoping that they wouldn't encounter any other people. The sun had set by the time they had reached the forest. The moon that was rising had cast silvery moonlight on the forest but it was still really dim.

"We should have brought a better source of light Magen. Juvia can't see well in this darkness." The water mage complained as she squinted her eyes to try to make out the things in front of them.

"Oh well I can fix that." The two stopped and Magen searched through her bag and pulled out a large white cloak. The ring mage put it on and deactivated her cold resistance ring. Magen tapped another ring with a white and yellow sun signet and it emitted a soft yellow light that illuminated the forest.

Juvia and her new friend ventured forward for what must have been another hour before they first spotted signs that someone had been here before. There were imprints in the dirt of boots and the air seemed a little colder then it had before, a few grassy spots seemed frosted over and trees had patches of clear ice on their rough bark.

"Ice? But it has been sunny everywhere around here… Why would it be ice, and its not even winter so the cold is unnatural too…" The statement made Juvia's hopes fly. She felt her heart soar with the excitement and rushed ahead, leaving the other mage behind. _Gray-sama._

"Juvia!" Someone shouted in a familiar voice, but Juvia wasn't paying attention to whose voice it was.

Juvia saw a flash of silver in the corner of her eye. The water mage spun around on her heels and looked at spot where she previously saw it. There was nothing there. Over the loud noise of her panting she could hear the object as it crashed through the forest. A large thud and a curse in a familiar voice make Juvia smile.

"Gray-sama!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone what's up? Yeah thats right they finally meet! I wonder what happens next?  
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**I hope you guys are all enjoying the story and please continue to review! It helps inspire me to write more! I have a question for you guys, what kind of pairing would you rather have me write next? GaLe, ElfEver or Cobkina? I am leaning more towards ElfEver or Cobkina but a GaLe sounds good too. I already have a NaLu one-shot if you are a NaLu fan and I only write for pairings I support.**

**And one last thing, I am sure you guys have already noticed by now but the Gruvia is going to be slightly slow. I hope you guys don't mind but if you do just stop reading then, I go at the pace I deem right for the story after all.**

**So like always please Read & Review and enjoy! Reviews help inspire me to write more and better!**

Gray heard the excited voice of the water mage and silently cursed. Just when he had thought he had traveled through the forest successfully that damn woman had to get here. Now how would he protect her?

"Gray-sama!"

Whoops, maybe his curse hadn't been so quiet after all. Whatever it didn't matter now, he just had to get out of here. The ice mage began to run at full speed, not daring to slow down for the woman.

Green foliage and brown wood and dirt broken by the occasional spurts of rock flashed in the corners of Gray's vision. He should have been more careful but he just didn't care in this case.

_Tree!_ Pain wracked his entire body as he landed face first into the birch tree. He fell backwards and groaned at his bad luck. The entire forest around him was spinning and he had to pause for a moment to reorient himself. He heard Juvia's shouts from the forest.

He stumbled to his feet and glanced around, other than the tree the area was pretty clear. It was a small grassy clearing. He quickly searched his mind for some plan he could use to get out of this mess.

Maybe he could just keep running? Nah what kind of plan was that! Perhaps if he played dumb, like a 'I am not the Gray you are looking for' or 'I... It wasn't my fault... I was possessed.' holy Mavis those sounded stupid, it seemed like kind of plans that the flame brain Natsu would think of.

The ice mage stood there for a few moments in deep thought. His choices were limited now. Then he thought of something... Something that might perhaps help keep her away and prove his point so he wouldn't be followed by anyone else.

The sound of footsteps led to a blue haired woman collapsing out of the bushes, panting. Her dull blue eyes lit up as she saw Gray.

"Gray-sama!"

Gray saw the pure adoration and love that filled her eyes, but forced himself to ignore it and not respond. _Juvia... Why did you follow me here? I didn't want to have to hurt you. _

"Juvia. Why are you here?" Gray demanded icily. Shock entered the water mage's eyes. The raven haired mage raised his hand and cold, raw ice magic drifted around his hand. Juvia saw his intention and color drained from her face.

"Gray-sama? Juvia followed Gray-sama here to find out if he really betrayed Fairy Tail," Juvia explained softly. "And to bring Gray-sama back."

Gray stared at the woman in astonishment, he knew that Juvia would feel bad about him leaving but to the point of leaving Fairy Tail behind as well? Wow he had been underestimating her... The woman stared back. Their gazes locked and they silently asked each other the same question, why?

"Well sorry, I don't know how you found out that I was the one that did it but you won't be able to catch me, let alone bring me back," Gray said as he took a step towards her. The ice in his hand intensified. He saw Juvia gulp in the thin moonlight.

He dreaded the idea of attacking his former guildmate, maybe he could just knock her out? "Ice make-" He never got to finish.

A young woman stepped forward out of the bushes panting just as heavy, maybe even heavier, than Juvia. She had auburn hair and all that he could tell she was wearing was a white cloak, however he could tell that she was a ring mage with all of the rings that adorned her fingers. Her darkened features showed a determined expression as she stepped in front of Juvia with her arms spread wide.

"I don't know who you are and what your connection to Juvia is but I won't let you harm her," The ring mage said, her voice thick with her determination. However, there was a speculative gaze in her eyes and she spent longer looking at his mostly-stripped body than defending Juvia. _Juvia found a friend? Great, don't tell me I have to defeat this one too._

"Ice Make: Prison!" Gray shouted and unleashed the spell. The two female mages were quickly trapped in a prison of solid ice and Gray turned to leave. The crackle of fire and an irritated sound made his attention turn though. He glanced over his shoulder.

The ring mage was attempting to use fire on the prison, her attempts fizzled after a few seconds and she started gasping for breath. The light of the fire illuminated her face, which glistened with sweat. _It looks like this woman isn't very strong... Not strong at all, what a pathetic flame too. _Lucy could finish her in a second... Hell even Happy could and he is just an exceed._ _Gray observed. The ice make mage turned over again and started walking off.

A growl tore through the air and Gray felt air rush at him, he instinctively ducked at the same time a punch flew right over him. The ring mage had escaped.

Gray spun around and flashed the woman a shocked look. She grinned slyly and tapped one of her rings with a thin finger.

"Ice make: Lance." A jagged spear of ice launched itself at the woman, a slightly high pitched scream could be heard as it struck the woman in her side. She was launched backwards. However as she got up she activated another ring. The woman was ignoring the blood dripping down her side and throwing fireballs at him erratically.

Gray muttered a spell and he froze a direct path towards the auburn haired girl. The frost rushed towards the girl rapidly and even froze over the fire in its path. It ended with a sharp point and hit the girl in the shoulder, sending her stumbling backwards.

"ENOUGH!" The yell made both Gray and the other mage freeze. Their eyes darted to Juvia who was staring at them in horror. Temporary forgetting their fight the two walked over to her, in the other girl's case limping. "Stop fighting both of you, Juvia doesn't wish for her friends to fight each other."

"Friends? You mean this guy who just tried to attack you is a friend?" The girl muttered distrustfully, her words more of a statement than a question. Juvia nodded and the girl just sighed and fell to her knees. She appeared really tired and a little pitiful.

"Megan!" Juvia said, naming the unknown mage. Megan just looked up at Gray and Juvia.

"Its alright Juvia I can just heal myself, I still have some magical energy left," Megan replied sweetly. Great so this mage just leapt from emotion to emotion didn't she? The ring mage lightly tapped a ring with one of those first aid crosses and began holding her hands over her side. A pale silver, almost white, mist flowed from her hands and seeped into the wound. The bloody cut slowly cleaned itself and mended together smoothly. She repeated the same action with her shoulder and yawned with exhaustion. Gray felt that she hardly had any magical energy left after all.

The whole time Gray was thinking, thinking of that healing ring this 'Megan' girl had. Healing magic was extremely rare, even for ring users. The only person they knew with healing skills was Wendy and Porlyusica, and Porlyusica didn't use healing magic but worked with medicinal herbs. There was only one or two rings that could heal any kind of injury, both of them extremely rare. Whoever this Megan was she was definitely more suspicious than she looks. Gray wondered how well Juvia knew this woman, but if Juvia trusted him he would have to as well.

Gray shook his head in slight confusion. What made him think he would be sticking around long enough to have to trust her? Megan layed on the ground and quickly fell unconscious from her exhaustion and Gray turned away from the two.

A hand on his shoulder prevented him from leaving. Juvia was right behind him. Tears were moving down her eyes and she was sniffling.

"Please Gray-sama, Juvia doesn't want to have to be without Gray-sama. Juvia will join the dark guild with you Gray-sama, just please don't let Juvia be alone..." The water mage pleaded, her eyes was desperate as her dark blue eyes met his.

"Juvia... Why would you want to betray Fairy Tail like me? I thought you were loyal to that dump." Gray inwardly cringed at the question, he didn't want to do it and he didn't want to insult his beloved guild. Juvia flinched at Fairy Tail being called a dump and he could tell that she was just as offended and shocked as he was.

"Because Juvia only wants to be wherever Gray-sama is!" Juvia replied confidently, but her hesitance still showed through. She looked so desperate, so vulnerable. Gray thought of how confident and sure of herself Juvia often was and powerful she seemed in Fairy Tail, but maybe trying to follow him was hurting her more than he or even Juvia herself thought.

_Maybe I should let her join me, I can't tell her the true plan but she trusts me enough so maybe I don't have to tell her? Besides if I say no she might be too heartbroken to do anything, and she is too precious for me to make her do anything of the sort. Mavis I just want to protect my former guildmates so why is that so hard?_ Gray sighed and felt Juvia tense, probably fully expecting him to reject her.

"Okay, you two can join Hellfire Imp, I will talk to the master when we get there. Its only a few miles from the end of this forest." Juvia relaxed and her gaze lit up with excitement.

"Thank you, Gray-sama," Juvia murmured. She hugged him, at first the ice mage was tensed up, but then relaxed and allowed his now only real friend to hug him. _I think I need the company too._ Gray thought sadly.

The two broke apart and the black haired mage saw Juvia blushing and looking down. A slight smile showed on her face. Gray smiled a little as well, glad to have some kind of familiar face. Gray felt cold liquid touch his shirtless back. He looked up and a couple fat drops of water crashed onto his face. He noticed Juvia look up too and thought of how he hardly really paid attention to her as she tried to constantly declare her love for him. But she was the only one who cared for him to the point of even leaving the guild for him.

Juvia looked at Megan. "Gray-sama its going to rain, don't you think we should set up some shelter?" she suggested quietly. Gray nodded and tried to slip back into a cold demeanor, he still had to try to pretend to be heartless. Otherwise she might find out what he is trying to hide. He turned around and started searching for stuff to create a temporary shelter, stopping when he heard a zipping sound.

"What are you doing?" Gray asked, turning around and inching towards the bluenette. She was leaning over a bag that had been zipped open and had a variety of things in it.

"Megan had packed this bag full of stuff before we left her house. Juvia thought that there must be something in here for camping out in the forest," Juvia stated simply. She pulled out a couple folded up tent packages, they would be pretty simple to put up, but would take time. "Besides, we need to help Megan get out of this rain and cold otherwise she might get really sick."

Gray agreed with a grunt and grabbed one of the tents, and carefully started setting it up. Juvia helped by redirecting the rain out of the clearing, which left the space free of the falling water. The two spent a few minutes working silently, although Gray's mind was anything but quiet. _What do I do? I obviously nearly tried to get rid of her and her friend a hour ago but now she is just shrugging it off? She is accepting that I have visually turned evil and even joining me... Or does she really think something else? _Gray glanced at Juvia for a second then turned back quickly._ I just wanted to protect Fairy Tail, now if Juvia and her friend gets hurt for coming with me it will be all my fault._

Gray pushed away his thoughts and started working faster, anything to get his mind off of the thoughts. The work went by so much faster when there wasn't pelting rain being unleashed on them. Megan didn't wake up at all during the work, having exhausted herself fighting Gray_. _The girl had been given a warm wool blanket and was placed under a tree that for the most part was dry underneath.

When they had finished they began getting ready to sleep, Juvia and Megan would sleep in one tent together and Gray would have his to himself. Juvia picked up Megan gently and carefully carried her to the two's tent. Gray watched Juvia from a large rock right next to his tent. Her hair was messy and there were bags under her eyes but she had a determined and loyal look that for some reason seemed... soothing... To Gray.

The two disappeared into their tent and Gray stretched, preparing to do the same. However he spent ten more minutes simply staring at the moon and night sky in deep thought. Maybe Gray himself didn't even know what he was thinking about. He stood up, jumped off the rock, and head into his tent for sleep.

**There, some Juvia and Gray interaction, I know its what you all have been waiting for! Please review if you feel like it and know that I accept all comments both good and bad!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi all! Thanks everyone for your reviews and comments! They have been really helpful and encouraging to me and I hope that you continue to enjoy the story. I made this chapter longer than the previous ones, do you like longer chapters or the current sized ones? The current normal chapter size is about 2k-2.5k words. This one kinda reached 4k words hehe… But I did try really hard on it and I hope you guys enjoy it!**

**Please read and review and enjoy!**

Megan woke up with a yawn. It was freezing! Megan tensed up and instinctually wrapped her blankets around her tighter. She was sitting in one of her tents, in one of her blankets… How did she even get here? Then she looked over her shoulder to see a blue haired girl lying next to her on the ground. She was snoring softly, while murmuring "Gray-sama"

Megan smiled and remembered. Then she thought more deeply of this Gray guy and lost a bit of her smile. While that guy was pretty cute she didn't think that he loved Juvia nearly as much as she loved him. After all, Megan was sure that Gray was pretty ready to kill Juvia as well as Megan. Gray was strong too, was Juvia as strong as Gray was? That was a scary thought. The ring mage knew that Juvia had mentioned being an S class mage when she was a part of Phantom Lord, and S class mages were super powerful.

"Juvia, you sure have interesting tastes… But I can't blame you since that means I must have interesting tastes too. He is certainly different than Taka was that's for sure." Taka was social, passionate and definitely a whole lot more welcoming than Gray seemed. Thinking of the man upset Megan slightly and made irritation flicker, after all she had only just broken up with him yesterday, and right after that she met Juvia.

Her clothes were still wet, eck she must have been put in the tent recently. Had it been raining then? Now that she tried to look outside through the near-transparent door of the tent she did see raindrops distorting the coloring slightly all around the tent. Her rings thank god were still on her fingers, she almost thought about tapping one for heat while sleeping but knew otherwise. Even a novice magician like her knew better than to use magic actively while sleeping, she could run out of magical energy in the middle of REM sleep or something and die without even noticing.

Megan thought about getting up and doing something, but then another cold breeze shook the tent and her exhaustion became apparent. The shelter of her bed seemed more and more welcoming than the cold winds outside, so she snuggled back into her blanket and fell back asleep.

Whatever ended up happening, it must be better than staying in that village with an ex-boyfriend and a traitorous twin sister.

* * *

><p>Juvia opened her eyes and only saw the cloth ceiling of the tent. She stared at it in confusion before remembering the events of the previous night. <em>Gray-sama, Juvia found you… <em>Her eyes began watering with happiness. Juvia sat up and stretched. She looked around the tent with her dark blue eyes and saw Megan laying down next to her, she looked so peaceful. Her auburn orange hair was scattered over herself messily and her chest rose and fell slowly.

Juvia ran a hand through her own messy hair and shivered slightly; going through the forest in the middle of winter was horrible. Gray was lucky that the cold didn't bother him, but maybe it just bothered Juvia more since she was mostly water. Today they were heading toward Gray's new guild? The Hellfire Imps? But Gray still had the Fairy Tail mark on his chest, which meant he hasn't really left Fairy Tail yet. Juvia shivered slightly and stared at the other side of the tent. A dark guild, she was really going to become a dark mage with Gray… Gray was really a dark mage now.

Her original mission had been to track down the ice make mage and prove that he didn't betray Fairy Tail, but that was what had happened. Even if she could leave Gray she couldn't return home empty handed and admit that he had turned evil. _But why? Why would Gray-sama betray Fairy Tail. Juvia doesn't understand! Gray-sama has always been extremely loyal to his friend and the guild. Has he really changed that much? _Juvia thought of how Gray acted when she saw him again, he was ready to knock her out. _He was poised to kill me and Megan, but he seemed to hang back, he was just trying to knock us out, not kill us._

Gray had also worn a mask over his personality; he appeared a lot more colder to Juvia than the indifference he had shown her back at Fairy Tail. When Juvia saw him, his eyes were cold and expressionless. But the defense of his emotional shield would slip and show the very same Gray that Juvia fell in love with. _Juvia will make sure Gray-sama can smile and enjoy warmth again! No one takes precedence than Gray-sama's happiness! _

"Stop steaming, its not a pretty sight to look up and see my friend pulling her hair out and fuming."

Juvia turned to Megan who was smiling teasingly at her with those spring green eyes of hers. Megan still appeared tired, with bags underneath her eyes. Megan let out a small chuckle.

"So what happened last night? All I remember is fighting your 'friend', healing myself after getting my ass handed to me, and falling unconscious," said Megan. The ring mage cocked her head to the side. "He seems to be an um… Nice? Guy Juvia, Gray I mean." Juvia could tell that Magen was trying to be nice about Gray attacking them, but ultimately failed.

"Gray-sama is normally a lot nicer, but Juvia doesn't know why he is like that." Juvia replied sadly, her eyes glistened slightly as water built up in them. Magen shouldn't have to see this icy side of Gray that he was trying to show. Juvia looked down at the blanket that covered her legs and was lost in thoughts for a few moments.

A hand grabbing hers made the water mage look up. The auburn haired girl was smiling warmly and pulled Juvia to her feet. "Hey girlie but don't go being all depressed after both cheering me up and finding the guy I'm assuming you were looking for!" Juvia felt her spirits being lifted_. At least Magen doesn't seem to dislike Gray-sama too much… She also doesn't seem to be a threat to my relationship with MY Gray-sama._

Juvia was pulled up with a slight tug on her hand and Magen gave her a reassuring hug. The ring mage's green eyes sparkled with sympathy. The blanket slid off Juvia's body, exposing her to the cold winter morning. She shivered slightly and noticed that Megan seemed a bit cold as well.

Megan let go of Juvia's hand and ungracefully walked to the side of the tent where the bag of supplies were. Magen grabbed a bundle of clothes out and blushed slightly to Juvia. Juvia quickly got the idea and turned around, although still keeping her peripheral vision on Magen. _If she is so pretty Gray-sama might go after her!_

The two girls chatted for a bit while they got themselves ready. When they finished Juvia had on her usual outfit and Megan was wearing a long sleeved aqua and yellow striped shirt and normal jeans. The clothes were extremely tight fit, which only added to Juvia's slight jealousy. But inwardly Juvia was glad to have Megan around; she would have been so lonely without the hopeful ring mage.

The two walked out of the tent and saw Gray sitting outside on the same rock as he was the night before. His clothes were on surprisingly but he would probably rip them off soon anyway. Juvia's mouth watered and her eyes widened. Juvia didn't notice that Megan was also staring at Gray with his shirt off, this was the first time she had seen him in open daylight and light.

"Oh Gray-sama!"

"Juvia, damn it." Gray cursed and spun around; he looked at the two girls staring at him and rolled his eyes. "Well, are you guys ready or what? We don't have all day and we have to be in Onibus town by sunset to stay at an inn. Also I need info too, so we will be stopping at the bar, you can come in helpful for that Megan." Gray ordered and he jumped off the rock. He landed on the ground with a soft whisper sound and gracefully head for the tent.

Juvia and Magen exchanged exasperated looks and got to work as well, within an hour they had put away all of their supplies and was continuing their trek through the forest. Gray was in the lead with Juvia at his shoulder, Megan just followed a few inches behind the two. She thought it would be best to give the two some space.

Megan however still felt slightly uncomfortable seeing her best friend around Gray, she didn't think she could fully trust the guy. She sped up a bit and tapped Juvia's shoulder, the water mage looked over her shoulder at Magen's wary face. "Can I ask you about something?" Megan whispered. Juvia nodded and the two fell back a small distance away from the ice mage.

"Are you sure that we can trust this guy?" Megan asked in the lowest tone she could manage and still have Juvia hear her.

"Of course! Gray-sama wouldn't harm us, Juvia knows it!" Juvia huffed.

"But… He nearly tried killing us last night."

"No he didn't. Juvia knows how Gray-sama looks and acts when he is serious and he wasn't, besides Gray-sama doesn't kill. He knows that life is too important! Do you not trust Juvia's word?"

At Juvia's icy ending she quickly shook her head, slightly scared. "No of course I trust you Juvia, you are the only person I have left to trust!" Megan nearly shouted, earning a curious look from the raven haired mage in front of them.

"Um… Do I even want to know?" Gray asked blankly. The two girls shook their heads quickly and Megan started sputtering for an answer.

"Uh… Uh… Uh… Juvia was just telling me how cute she thought you were! You know she has been constantly talking about you while we were trying to find you!"

Gray raised an eyebrow, but the two couldn't tell what he meant. Juvia's puzzled gaze bore into Megan and she shifted slightly. _What kind of save was that for you and Juvia?_ The water mage thought. Gray just turned back and kept walking.

"Man, I could really use a snow cone or something, hell even ice cream would do," Gray muttered. He didn't notice Juvia perking up in the background at the sound of Gray doing something familiar to her. Of course she would take his love of snow cones and other icy things to an assurance he hadn't changed. _Gray-sama is still Gray-sama, Juvia just knows it!_ Juvia thought determinedly.

Megan watched the two with observant eyes, she was a little fascinated by the two's relationship… Okay maybe more than a little… She pushed her long auburn hair behind her ears and enjoyed what meager sunlight that fell upon the earth hit her. It was weak against the cold breeze but it satisfied her.

"Hey Megan."

Megan turned her head to the water mage. Juvia smiled and had a bit of a curious expression on her face. "Hmm?"

"Can Juvia ask you something?"

"Umm of course?"

Juvia didn't look at Megan, just kept walking next to the ring mage. "You said you were leaving the village forever but you didn't pack up any of the stuff other than a bunch of rings, clothes, and travel supplies. What are you doing with your cottage?" Juvia asked.

"Oh that silly house? It wasn't mine." Megan laughed. Juvia's eyes widened with surprise.

"Oh? Juvia is confused now…"

"It belonged to my boyfriend… I would have had to get out anyway since I was just staying with him and he broke up with me." Megan's head drooped shyly and she blushed a little in embarrassment. "Whoops?"

Juvia was so shocked she stumbled and landed on the ground back first. When she stumbled forward she had accidently reached out to Gray on instinct and grabbed his shoulder as she fell, pulling the ice make mage on top of her.

The two had fallen to the ground painfully, with dirt and dust shooting into the air from the compact. Juvia felt two warm things grabbing the mounds on her chest, her eyes shot up and saw Gray's hands gripping them tightly. Heat spread through her and her face turned red. _Gray-sama! Juvia loves this!_ When Gray had started to fall he had turned towards Juvia's direction and stuck out his hands to stabilize himself, it backfired when he had accidently groped her boobs. Her dark blue eyes darted to his and he appeared panicked, his face also flushed with red.

"Gray-sama! Juvia likes this, but wishes that he wouldn't wait till her and Gray both fell down to do so," Juvia said cheerfully.

"No! I mean I didn't mean to do that, stop being ridiculous!" Gray snapped and disentangled himself from the water mage. He turned away coldly and continued walking. Juvia got up quickly and saw that Gray was still pretty flustered. He seemed to be trying not to care but failed a little miserably.

Juvia rushed to catch up to Gray, when she did she noticed the alert, wary look on his face. _Did Juvia upset Gray-sama?_ The blue haired mage thought worriedly. _No, Juvia hasn't, something else is on Gray-sama's mind._ So many people thought that Juvia was oblivious to Gray's feelings, that everything about him was drowned beneath her displays of love, however she was able to read him quite well. She could understand him a bit better too, she spent enough time observing him to learn to do that.

They spent a few hours continuing to walk, Juvia on Gray's left, while Megan was on Gray's right. They almost appeared on a team except the hasty glances that Megan and Gray kept shooting at each other, Juvia noticed it but kept quiet about it. She silently hoped that they would eventually be able to trust each other, like Juvia ended up doing with Lucy. _Juvia misses Lucy, Juvia misses all of Fairy Tail, but Juvia is very happy she still has Gray-sama and her new friend Megan._

When they reached the town they were quickly alerted to the news of a band of wizards in the local wizard bar. Gray frowned and muttered a curse that both Juvia and Megan heard. The ice mage turned around.

"Well since there are mages around I think that Megan should go," Gray said, looking at the auburn haired woman. She looked slightly startled, with wide eyes that were edged with disbelief and her mouth gaping.

"Me, why?" She asked in a puzzled tone.

"Because there are some wizards that we don't want to encounter, we are fairly close to where they might be as well, you are the only person they won't recognize and if we are found there will be trouble." Gray explained, exchanging a glance with Juvia, she nodded in understanding. He turned his direction back to Megan, who still looked unsure. "If you are going to work with us you have to get used to doing this for us, I trust you, don't you at least trust Juvia?" Gray inwardly didn't trust Megan all that much, but it was his best option.

"Please Megan, Juvia and Gray-sama really needs to stay hidden right now, we can't risk being found out about!" Juvia pleaded, she knew what Gray was talking about. Onibus was only a little ways north of Magnolia, home to their old guild. It would be easy to find mages of Fairy Tail at a town that close.

"Okay fine I will." Megan snapped and looked over towards the direction of the town. Juvia smiled at her and Gray just nodded in approval. Megan smiled uneasily. The three talked a little bit longer about what she had to do and that they would be arriving in the village later once her goals were finished.

"Good luck!" said the water mage. Megan waved a hand in the air as she said goodbye, the two watched her slim figure walk into the village, while Gray and Juvia moved a little bit deeper back into the forest.

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><p><strong> So yeah this chapter is over like 3k words I think, maybe that is a little too big. If you guys want I can break up the chapter or just keep it this way. I can't guarantee that all chapters will be this long though, this one just has a lot of content lol. Next chapter is where you see Megan getting the supplies and who she is going to run into hehe. Sorry if the story is going a little slow, but this is the general pacing of the story. I was going to have a bit of Megan doing the stuff in town in this chapter but unless you wanted like... Over 4k then yeah...<strong>

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter please take the time to review and tell me what you think!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everyone! Well here is another big chapter… Even larger than the one before. I hope you guys do like big chapters. Please Read and Review as well as just enjoy it!**

Megan walked into the town nervously, how on earth did she end up getting sent into a town for rooms, resources and info? She recalled the conversation clearly enough.

"_Your job-" Gray started. "Is to go into the village and rent us a room at the inn, there should be plenty of rooms available, I heard that they even rent out the basement for a cheap price. I want you to rent the basement, we need to keep ourselves well hidden around here. The guild is still awhile north of here so we need to stay here for the next couple nights to prepare, this leads to your two other goals-" _

First step, reserve at a hotel. Megan walked over to the one small inn that Onibus town contained, it didn't look half bad, but a basement could be different than a room. It was still pretty cold, so Megan activated her cold resistance ring and strode in. An old lady was standing there reading a sorcerers weekly magazine. Huh so this woman has a liking for that magazine huh? _I admit I used to read it before I met with Taka._ Megan chuckled to herself.

"Excuse me miss." The old woman looked up, her mousy gray-brown hairs showed her age just as much as the wrinkles and crow's feet that marred a possibly once pretty face.

"Yes?" The lady asked me in a plain tone. She sounded and looked tired, and a bit irritated. Was her job really that bad?

"I would like to rent a room, the basement in particular…" Megan asked. The lady's eyes narrowed questioningly, and Megan felt herself warm under the old lady's dark brown gaze.

"Oh? And why the basement." Her voice was tinged with curiousity. Megan shifted slightly.

"Because ma'am, we need somewhere quiet and out of the place for us to get some decent rest, you would be surprised how hard it is to fall asleep in even this forest, it's not as quiet as you might think..."

It was a lie, but she obviously didn't care. "Very well miss, but I will need about 7,000 jewels." _Woah, Gray wasn't kidding, the basement really is cheap!_ Megan paid for the room and the old lady handed her a key. Megan gave a quick wave of thanks and hurried out with the lady's gaze still following her.

The ring mage let out a soft sigh of relief. Megan wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. It became wet with sweat and she realized that she had started sweating. _Well, that old lady was rather unsettling._ At least the walk to the bar was short and sweet, with the chilling breeze of the evening to cool her down.

She pushed open the door of the bar, it was warm and rowdy, her hands flashed to her ears. However it only lasted for a moment. She brought her hands back down and walked over to the bar counter.

"_-Then, after you have bought us the basement, we need information. The wizards bar should have plenty of it." His eyes grew distant for a bit, as if he was remembering something. Then he shook himself and the coldness returned to his dark blue eyes. "Don't tell any wizard of our names since they might know us. But listen to them for information as well, don't shy away from socialization."_

_Megan nodded, "Also last of all we are going to need some supplies, I am sure that when you two left you packed plenty but otherwise we still need more food and blankets and other things like that since between the three of us the supplies will become worn much faster, we do have plenty of time to do this while in town however so if you don't get it tonight it's no big deal, is that clear?" Megan nodded again quickly._

That was the last part, judging from the fact that the sun was going down she wouldn't have time to get restock their camping gear since they would be coming into town at night. Megan plopped down onto the barstool and waited for the server to come around.

"What would you like miss?" The bartender growled.

"Some wine would do just fine actually, white wine please?" He nodded and left, leaving the auburn haired mage to entertain herself.

She looked around, her gaze lingering painfully on the sight of a couple. A woman sitting on the lap of a heavily muscled guy, the guy was tickling her and she was giggling cutely. Megan sighed, feeling a pang of jealousy. Just watching this was more agonizing than being hit twice by Gray's ice make magic. She was too into staring at them to notice her wine being placed at her spot.

"That's a horrible idea!" The loud noise made her head snap around.

A short blue haired mage in an orange dress was arguing with two other mages. One of them was incredibly obese. With short black hair that was neatly kept, except for the small tuft at the top. The other had orange hair that was held up tightly in a ponytail.

"No, we are not going back to the guild! The whole reason we left is to try to find any clues where they have gone and we can't find out any of that back there!" said the orange haired one, shouted back. Megan finally noticed her wine and took a small sip of it.

"But why would they be out here in this small little town? It makes no sense!" shouted the black haired one.

"Hey, hey enough fighting you two, we shouldn't be fighting when we need to focus right now!" Levy huffed.

"But wherever the dark guild is holding Natsu, Erza and Happy at can't be anywhere near Onibus… Right Jet?" Droy addressed the other guy apart of Shadow Gear.

"We just have to keep looking in this area guys, maybe we could check the former Eisenwald building they could be hiding there, if that doesn't work than we can come home?" Levy said before Jet could answer.

The two brightened at the idea, "brilliant idea Levy!" they exclaimed.

Megan observed the conversation with interest. Maybe these guys have some good info, they are talking about a dark guild maybe it might be useful, it's better than nothing and there's plenty of time to kill. Megan stepped lightly over to them and cleared her throat.

"Hello, my name is Megan, can I buy you three some drinks and we can chat?" The auburn haired asked. Levy, Jet, and Droy looked a little startled. Then Levy nodded hesitantly but smiled.

"Sure!" she said.

The three mages walked over and sat at the bar with Megan, Megan ordered drinks for them and started her little interrogation. Droy ordered some food from the counter, earning an annoyed look from Jet.

"Are you really getting more food? You ate before we left… Stop eating so much."

"You calling me fat?" The two continued bickering, leaving Levy and Megan alone for the most part.

"So what's wrong with your guild? I heard you were having some trouble." She inquired curiously. Levy looked a little suspicious.

"A few members of our guild were kidnapped, by a traitor," Levy said. "Three were captured, one escaped and warned us, we have been trying to find both the traitor and our captured guildmates for awhile now." Megan took another sip of her wine, Levy who had just gotten ice water, took a small sip herself. Megan smiled encouragingly at the blue haired guild mage. She just smiled back uneasily.

"What guild were you apart of? And what's the dark guild?" Megan questioned, she could feel something important about to slip out, some kind of info that would make this all worth it.

"Me and my team are apart of Fairy Tail, the guild that captured our precious friends is a dark guild called Hellfire Imps… Does that sound familiar?" Levy asked as Megan started choking on her wine. _Wait a second… So the guild we are joining has captured these guy's mages? Why? I have to tell Juvia about this later!_ Megan sputtered for a long minute as she tried to clear her throat, she grew warm with embarrassment when Droy began patting her on the back to try to help her.

"Don't choke and die!" Droy warned. _No fricken way, really?_ She regained her breath and moved away from him. Determined to continue the conversation, she gave the overweight mage a grateful smile and turned back to Levy, who was watching her with concern.

"Are you alright Megan?" Levy asked worriedly, Megan cleared her throat and nodded.

"Yea I'm fine, thanks for asking. No I'm afraid I haven't." Megan looked at the time, it was getting pretty late, soon Juvia and Gray would come into town.

"Oh that's too bad, so much for getting a lead here." Levy said disappointedly. She turned to her teammates, who had been watching the conversation and enjoying their drinks. "Do you guys think we should turn in? There is that room we rented at the inn here."

_Wait don't go! I still need more information. Fairy Tail though huh? I've heard of them, aren't they famous? News of them never really reached the village. The only news that I knew of were that the guild was really strong, maybe I could ask Juvia about it sometime._

The two teammates nodded to the short girl and they started heading for the door, Levy however, lingered. She scrutinized Megan closely and Megan just returned her gaze. The two was locked in a staring contest for a few more moments before Levy continued and broke the silence. If there were any onlookers they could have been instantly amused by the sight. A tall red haired girl in a staring contest against a short blue haired girl, it could have made anyone who was paying attention start laughing.

"So you have been asking me all sorts of questions… What's going on?" Levy asked innocently. She didn't seem to have any particularly bad intentions, the guild mage just seemed curious.

Megan paused, if she revealed too much then there would be trouble. Megan shuddered at the thought. Levy apparently noticed this, and her concern for Megan deepened. The auburn haired mage lifted her head up. "Hey, hey don't worry about it, I'm fine."

"umm okay them? Well me and my team will be leaving. Good luck with whatever might be happening, and wish us luck too!" Levy smiled as she excused herself and headed for her teammates. She gave a small wave to Megan, who responded in kind. The three guild mages left and Megan looked at the time, it was about time for them to meet. _Why do I have such a horrible habit of taking too much time?_ Megan wondered.

She paid the bartender for his services and walked out the door. However there was a couple drunk wizards who tried flirting with her on the way out. She knocked them back… Painfully. _Ug some wizards, the sooner I get away from these creeps and over to Juvia and Gray the better. I'm sure some of this info will be useful. Their names were Levy, Jet and Droy huh?_

By now it was fully dark and the wind was blowing harder. The moon was a thin sliver of white in the black sky. The ring mage tapped her light ring and a warm golden light pushed away some of the darkness. The familiar slow drain of energy started as the ring drew away her magic power. _ Where is the meeting place again? Oh yeah!_

Megan huffed in the chilly air and hurried to the meeting spot, which was behind the inn for privacy.

"Hey guys, are you here. Gray? Juvia?" Megan called softly. The sound of footsteps falling on dirt and twigs alerted her to their presence. Gray was the first person Megan saw, Juvia followed. Their expressions were serious though Juvia's appeared a bit worried. But relief covered the blunette's features when she saw that Megan was safe.

"Well, how much did you get done?" Gray didn't bother with greetings. Juvia however rushed forward and hugged Megan.

"You are a little late, did you run into trouble? Juvia hopes that nothing bad happened."

Megan smiled in response to her friend. "Of course nothing bad happened Juvia, actually I got a large amount of info that might be useful. Sorry I couldn't get as much as you probably want though, I lost track of time." Megan admitted, blushing slightly.

Gray sighed, making Megan and Juvia's heads turn towards him. The ice make mage stared emotionlessly at Megan. "Well then, let's hear what you got." He sounded exasperated, and Megan inwardly sighed.

Megan explained what happened to the two, though leaving a few bits out. She didn't want to explain her choking and having to be helped by them, or her sudden jealousy at that one couple, or even the small sapling of doubt she felt about the Hellfire Imp guild after the conversation.

When she had finished she saw Gray's eyes turn serious and he looked at the ground for a few moments, apparently lost in thought. Juvia's eyes had widened with shock and her mouth gaped. Gray cursed barely loud enough for the auburn haired mage to hear and started muttering even quieter.

"And you said that this wizards were Levy, Jet and Droy?" Juvia asked. Megan nodded and the blunette looked at Gray.

He noticed both of the girl's gazes on them and looked up; his expression had slipped behind an emotionless mask. "We still need to restock, we will be staying here for the full time paid to gather our bearings before heading on for the guild. We may have to detour a bit and become a little late but if we are not caught it should be fine. The Fairy Tail mages is wrong with their guess, Hellfire Imp's Headquarters is north of here, not in Eisenwald's old place." Megan felt aroused curiosity about Juvia and Gray, but would save the conversation for some other time. She could press the question on Juvia later.

"Okay."

"Juvia agrees!"

The three teammates headed into the inn, Megan appearing as she did before but Juvia and Gray wearing their cloaks and hiding their faces. Something told the ring mage that these next few days were seriously going to be hectic.

* * *

><p>"The apocalypse?" Erza asked again, startled.<p>

Bartemius nodded grimly. "Yes indeed. I heard a couple of the mages here talking about it during the large amount of time I've spent here. There is a prophecy that says that a dark guild will rise up and try to take power, they will use an artifact to summon and control a great dragon. I don't remember the name of the dragon though…"

Natsu stood there in shock, there was only one dragon that could cause an apocalypse… And that was Acnologia… "Could it be...?" He muttered as he clenched his fists, he heard the rustle of chains from Erza's cell and the pounding of bars.

"Acnologia! Did they say Acnologia Bartemius?" Erza blurted out. Her voice was edged with worry and it Natsu couldn't blame her for seeming slightly panicked. Not even all of Fairy Tail's strongest members attacking the large black dragon could harm it.

"That might have been it, I'm not sure though." Bartemius mumbled as he thought about it.

A loud chortle and the sound of the door being kicked open made their heads all turn to its source. A guy walked in casually. Natsu, with his dragon slayer hearing, heard the word "Nathan…" in the raspy voice of Bartemius.

The pink haired dragon slayer stared at the man Bartemius called Nathan. He had long black hair with a maybe just as long beard. The hair and beard blended together to form a ridiculous sea of dark, coarse hairs. He wore spiked iron armor and what skin was revealed was ghastly pale.

"Alright what do we have here? Looks like Gray was right, this is a good catch. Too bad him and the master have already ditched the place." Nathan let out another haughty laugh. He strode over to the cell's holding Bartemius and Natsu.

The dragon slayer growled aggressively and Nathan glanced over at him. A cruel smile split his mouth. "Haha so you are the famous salamander! You should pay a high price when we sell you!" Natsu felt rage bubble up inside of him.

"Fire dragon's roar!" Natsu shouted, brought his fists together, and breathed fire through the bars of the cell. The flames dashed around the bars and hit the evil man directly, the flames licked at his armor but when the spell faded it was completely undamaged. Erza gasped with shock.

"Pathetic, and I thought that Fairy Tail mages would put up more of a fight." Nathan sneered and ignored Natsu, focusing instead on Bartemius. "Get over here ya old geezer!" The old mage struggled to his feet and walked to the bars slowly, having to lean against the wall for support.

"Enchant this." The man tossed a large chunk of metal into the cell and it clattered to the floor loudly. Bartemius leaned down to touch it. Nathan kicked him and chuckled. "Make sure that it can penetrate magic shields, if we are going into war against legal guilds, we need better gear."

Natsu noticed the smell of blood that had risen in the air. _Is the old man all right? He seems hurt! I swear when I get out of here I will burn him to charcoal. _

"Okay…" Was all the slave mage said. Nathan nodded and head back out of the jail, whistling cheerfully.

"Sir, what was that about?" Erza inquired. Bartemius looked up at the two and wiped the blood from his mouth.

"He wanted me to infuse this mace with a spell, it's what I do. I can take any item and enchant it with a spell, often a powerful one, they force me to do it all the time and use the enchanted items in combat. They are the reasons your fight ended badly." Bartemius rasped.

"What do you mean old man?" Natsu asked.

"I can probably guess accurately that during your fight with Hellfire Imp that your magic wasn't as strong, your magic right now is probably fizzling as you try using it. They most likely used an enchanted item specialized to weaken caster magic in order to work around your defenses."

"That must be why only Lucy was unaffected by the warehouse!" Erza said with revelation. "She is a celestial mage, her magic is holding magic. The rest of us use caster magic."

Natsu couldn't really understand why having the artifact around would affect them all so badly but there was a more prominent question on his mind.

"So why is our magic having little affect now? My fire is weak and Erza can't seem to requip? This is so lame…" Natsu whined. He heard the just-named requip mage sigh.

"When I first was put here, I was forced to imbue all of the chains, except for mine, with spells to restrict magic flow. Without the magic flow your magic will either fizzle or not work at all." Bartemius explained.

"Strange… I've never heard of this kind of magic… What is it?" Erza asked.

"Imbuement magic, it allows the user to place rare spells on anything with solid matter. It's a lost magic."

"Can anyone else use it?"

"Not that I know of, from what I can tell only a few people have ever used it. However Apollion can use another kind of lost magic, and that makes him dangerous, and Hellfire Imp as a whole is heavily reliant on the artifacts that our magic's together create."

"Is there any way to break out of here?" asked the requip mage. Natsu expected some elaborate plan to be drawn, but Bartemius only said one thing.

"You could just try to break out. You are the first prisoners I've ever seen be able to use their magic while in the chains, and I know a plan."

"You Do!?" Natsu yelled, earning a fierce hushing sound from Erza and a "Be quiet!" look from Bartemius.

"However, Nathan has magic dispelling enchanted on his armor; his fire won't do a thing. The only thing that can overcome the spell is another enchanted item." Bartemius said. The old man dragged forward the object given to him earlier, revealing an old spiked mace.

"You aren't really gonna imbue it right?" Natsu asked. The slave wizard looked up with a planning grin on his face.

"Of course, I'm going to give It just the enchantment he asked for." He chuckled.

"What! Why!" Natsu stared him in shock. He heard Erza's mumbling from farther down the hall.

"I see, that's perfect! We could do that!" Erza was saying.

"What?" Natsu could have sworn that he heard Erza facepalm. _Okay so… What are they talking about? _

"I'm glad that one of you Fairy Tail mages are smart…" He heard Erza chuckle and wondered slightly what he was missing.

"I…I still don't get it!" Natsu complained.

"Idiot! He's going to enchant it with the magic dispelling spell and we are going to use it to get rid of the enchantment of the armor!" Erza snapped. _Oh that makes so much more sense, I mean really this guy's magic seems so lame and confusing? You can't really punch anything with it! _"I will wield it, I am use to fighting with weapons anyway, I will deal with Nathan. Natsu, you need to find Happy as well as provide a distraction. Feel free to destroy as much as the place as you need."

Natsu smiled, a role where he could fight and destroy as much as he wanted? It was perfect. "Alright!" he growled. "I can't wait!"

Bartemius stood over the club, his hands glowed with a yellow energy and a golden magic circle hovered over it. "Imbuement: Arcane dispellment!" he muttered in a low tone only Natsu could have picked up. The magic slipped through his hands, darted through the center of the magic circle and covered the club. The weapon shone for a moment before dying down, it shined like it was some glazed object.

The old man leaned down and picked it up; he lifted it with great difficulty and tossed over near Erza's cell. There was a small huff sound as Erza caught it. A couple minutes passed, all of which Natsu's blood boiled with anticipation for the upcoming fight.

"It will do," said Erza. Bartemius nodded.

"Very good, I wish the two of you luck on your breakout." He said grimly, Natsu looked at him strangely. _Does he really think he's just gonna stay here? He won't last long unless he comes with us. _

"Aren't you coming with us old man?" Natsu asked. The slave wizard shook his head.

"I'm too slow and weak to do you much good. I won't last much longer anyway, I've been waiting for someone to break out. Don't fail me you two." Bartemius rasped and turned away. The three discussed the plan quietly for what must have been hours, Natsu knew that it was nearly night. It would be the perfect time to break out. Bartemius went to his bed to try to fall asleep, the less involved he seemed the better it would be for him.

"Are you ready Natsu?" Erza asked. "I know exactly how we are going to do this, when the jailor comes in to retrieve the weapon in an hour, we take the keys. Bartemius said that Nathan himself rarely comes in so the odds of him being the one we have to get rid of is rare. I can lure him over, knock him out and take the key. I'll free the two of us."

"But we can't just leave Bartemius behind! It's not fair to him." Natsu protested.

"We have to Natsu, he won't survive the escape even if we did help him. Besides he specifically told us not to." Erza's voice dropped to a low whisper. "We can rescue him later, you want to get back to Fairy Tail… And find Gray right?"

Natsu clenched his fists, they burst into flames and his eyes narrowed with determination. "Gray, I will find him. Okay Erza." _Gray, you better be ready for when we find you. You owe us answers ice princess._

**And that's the 6****th**** chapter! Wow I feel like I made it waaay to big. I couldn't even find a good way to end it… Whatever please tell me if I did good with this one or not. I'm really not sure… Well please drop a review if you want and tell me if I did good or bad, reasons why for the two would be good too.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone, sorry this chapter is late. I've been so busy that even though I've been planning on updating nearly all my stories I haven't had the chance to really work on a single one of them. **

**Ya'know I haven't really realized how good of a character Juvia is until I started this fic. When I started she was like 'okay' but now I'm really starting to like her! I'm going to Sakura-con this year and you know who I'm gonna be? I'm going to be Juvia! My friend who is taking me is going to be Lucy. Any readers going?**

**As always please Read and Review, and the most important part of this story, Enjoy!**

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><p>The door opened and was followed by a young man. The blonde haired man's hand jingled as he fingered through the keys. Erza tensed up as he came near and waited for Natsu's attack. <em>This is a hastily made plan, and really faulty, but we have to get out of here quickly if this has to do with Acnologia, there is no time to waste!<em>

Erza raised the weapon as the jail keeper let out a soft "oof" sound and dropped to the ground. Maybe this wouldn't take as long as she thought. She reached out with a hand.

"Here ya go Erza, now hurry and get us out of here!" Natsu said impatiently. He tossed the keys over to her. The light metal keys plopped into her hand softly, and Erza quickly unlocked herself.

Her wrists ached and were coated with blood. They were rubbed raw too. Though Erza could bear through it, she was just thankful no damage was done to her neck. She unlocked the cage and pushed it open warily. Her eyes darted left and right to keep watch on the doors.

"Okay Natsu, wait a second while I unlock them. Then go wreck all the destruction you want." Erza walked to Natsu's cell, he nodded. There was a determined look in his eyes and his expression serious. She unlocked his chains and smiled energetically at him, he grinned back with equal enthusiasm. "Lets go!"

"Yea!" Natsu spun around and fired up. He dashed to the door with lightning speed, knocking it down with a mere punch. Erza could have sworn that she could hear Bartemius grumble a complaint, but it was too quiet for the requip mage to hear.

Erza rolled her eyes in amusement as Natsu rushed ahead to the soldiers that were attracted by the noise of the prison-break. She heard Natsu's shouting and the screams of falling soldiers as she jumped ahead of him and started fighting away as well. _This is a mage guild, why are there common soldier's here too… Mercenaries?_

_Requip: Heaven's wheel armor! _Magical energy swirled around her. Her armor changed to become white and angelic, as well as metallic.

She darted forward and slashed wildly, knocking down multiple mages. Her sword and the club moved like lightning. Slowly she was making her way forward.

She felt an odd lurch and her armor disappeared. But Erza had no choice but to keep swinging. With a curse and a thank you to her club she went on the defense. With magic being just as common as weapons it was a good thing that the club defended against both.

Then Erza felt pain burst in the back of her shoulder. Warm liquid fell down her back. She spun and attacked the mercenary. The club bashed his skull and he fell backwards into the crowd. She dropped to the ground in accumulated pain. She realized her weakness instantly.

_Requip: Flight Armor. _Erza's clothes turned to cheetah patterned armor with a short sword in her hand. She jumped out of the fray and looked at the mercenaries below her. _I can't see Natsu in the hall at all. Was he separated into a different hall? _Arrows flew at her and she dodged them narrowly. _I have to take care of these guys first though._

Erza let out a shrill cry and dived back into the mob, she sliced at their defenses. Wailings and whinings resounded in her head. Within moments they were all down. Natsu however was still nowhere to be seen. Blood was still spattered across her armor and the speed heat the already warm liquid, causing it to steam slightly.

"Looks like I'm done here," Erza said, looking around the mess of unconscious bodies around her. She requipped back into her normal armor to save her magic and continued walking down the path. Where was Natsu? They were supposed to be breaking out together. The red haired mage walked down the hall, the club still grasped in her hand.

It was quiet... Way too quiet for comfort. When the only sound was the falling of your footsteps in an enemy base you would be pretty skeptic of any kind of safety. It was just a long hallway, with the occasional staircase. After coming to the end, tensed step after step, she arrived what must have been the exit. It was the same room they came in... But there was someone important missing, scratch that... Two people.

"Well this is a room, and an exit... But where is everyone, especially Natsu?"

A small voice inside her head told her to duck, now!

A spray of water shot over her head, crashing on the wall in front of her. Erza spun around and gripped her club tightly. She had already expected the man that met her sight. His short, smoothed over black hair, black eyes, and dark iron armor.

"Nathan!" she spat. The man chuckled and just looked at her.

"Well done Titannia, you look like a good fight."

"Where's Natsu, and Happy?"

The man looked at her puzzledly. "Natsu is somewhere else inside here, don't know about Happy... Is he that cat that my men were about to dissect in the other room?"

Anger rushed through her. They were going to cut Happy open! "Dissecting an animal that's clearly alive? Don't you dare!"_ Please... Don't let Happy be dead._

"Of course, its not everyday the men see a flying, talking cat. Besides, we enjoy _playing_ with our animals."

_'Playing' with them? _"You sick bastards!" Erza requipped into her black wing armor and flew forward. A purple and silver blade in one hand, the club in the other. She rushed to him. With lightning speed she stabbed him. However the blade bounced off harmlessly. Nathan smiled, he waved a hand, sending balls of water crashing into Erza.

_Thats right, only the mace will work on his enchanted armor. It looks like he is a water mage like Juvia, well if he wants to fight with water than so shall I._ She requipped into her Sea Empress armor. The dark colors of her current armor shifting into a green and blue one. She summoned up her own water and sent it at him. He wasn't expecting it and was sent flying into a wall.

"I expected you to be better since you were the commander here, but you seem to really underestimate your opponents." Erza smirked. She hoped she could taunt him into loosing his composure, otherwise this fight could last awhile. Erza needed to find Natsu and Happy.

"Titania, you will pay for this." Nathan grinned maniacally. "Selling you will feel so much sweeter after this fight, no, maybe I would be better to just flat out kill you." He lunged for Erza, his entire body becoming covered in water. He was fast, Erza could give him that. Within seconds he was already stabbing outward with a spear of water. Erza changed the flow of the water, and it dropped to the ground. She swung the club at him and watched his eyes light up with recognition. "This weapon... Bartemius! That traitor!" It swung into him and pushed him away from the requip mage.

Erza smiled. Her plans were working. "Yea he was a big help, we got him to do it rather quickly. What incompetent jail master lets his prisoners rise up like this?"

He roared with anger and swung at her wildly with his water magic. Erza weaved around them before tossing them back just as quickly. His magical armor protected him but not the club. He knew his weakness, and now he was afraid. _If he relies on the armor so much, he must not really be all that powerful._ The poor man fell backwards. Erza saw her chance. She rushed forward, raised the club over her head, and brought it down. _  
><em>

"It's a good thing I've already seen this coming. We got the weapons and armor we needed anyway. The man I've sent to finish him off should do it quite nicely!" Only to be blocked by another sword. Erza's eyes widened as in the blink of an eye the man had brought out a weapon of his own, and pushed her back. Where did that sword come from?

Nathan grinned and retreated several feet, back into his original spot. It puzzled Erza slightly and she found herself drawing closer.

"You know Titania, its been a fun fight. But I would rather get this over with." He took the dagger and sliced through a thin rope. Erza froze as a small black spiked ball rolled out from somewhere, Erza couldn't really see it. The ball glowed with bright energy, before sending waves of magical energy through the air.

Erza gasped with pain as her requip was forcibly removed. She looked upward at him angrily.

"What is this?" she growled. Nathan cocked his head to the side.

He walked forward slowly, though it was more of a limp. "All the magic in the room has been dispelled and blocked Titania. My equality sphere served its purpose perfectly."_  
><em>

The initial flash of pain faded, and she rose back up. She couldn't requip, she would have to fight him without armor.

"If all of the magic in the room is down, then you must be unable to use magic as well."

"Heh, thats why I came prepared." He gave his sword a flourish in the air. His armor still glittered with magic power, and the sword did as well. He charged forward, his sword and dagger drawn. Erza glanced down at her club, it would have to do. Erza shouted with fury as she charged._  
><em>

Their weapons met in a shower of sparks. Erza felt cold steel graze her neck as Nathan tried to stab her with the dagger. Erza broke away. The two walked in a circle opposing each other, each one waiting for the other to strike. Erza attacked first.

With a grunt she swung the mace at him. He dodged to the left side, only to have Erza punch him with her left hand. He fell backwards onto the ground. Erza stood in front of him panting. She was tired and bleeding. Erza leaned forward and grabbed his armored chest. She pulled him up with her strength and saw the panic and unease in his eyes.

"Okay Nathan, tell me everything about this guild and your plans. Tell me about Gray Fullbuster as well." She saw his eyes widen and he started to tremble.

"I can't do that... I mean I know nothing about our plans, I'm just in charge of the ransoms. Gray Fullbuster apparently works with Apollion in their base at Onibus town. I don't know why or what he's being used for but he just is." The man gulped.

"Bullshit! I know that you know more. You are Apollion's second hand man are you not?"The man nodded. "So you will know more!"

She didn't get an answer though, because the ceiling above them burst with force. Erza had to let go of the man and leapt backwards to escape the falling rubble that was coming down.

"All right!" The dust cleared to reveal a pink haired idiot standing on the rubble pile. A small blue exceed drifted down weakly, appearing beaten up but otherwise fine.

"Natsu! Happy!" Erza moved forward with a smile. "How nice of you to drop in." she chuckled lightly. She was glad to see the two of them safe and well... Mostly unharmed.

"Hey Erza, look who I found!" He flashed a toothy grin and pointed to Happy. "These Hellfire Imp bastards were about to cut him open and stuff before I found them and beat them up." Erza couldn't help but picture it, and silently laughed.

"Aye these mean guys were beating me, and when I tried to fly away and yelled at them they noticed that I was an exceed and tried to kill me... They called it 'science'." Happy said, slightly teary-eyed. Erza walked up to the exceed and hugged him lightly. He grew wings and flew over to Natsu. "Natsu... Are we going home now?"

"Of course we are Happy, we have won... right?" He looked at Erza, who nodded.

"Yeah, I defeated Nathan. I was about to interrogate him but..." she suddenly gained a evil feeling aura. "This idiot had to break in through the ceiling and knock him out." she pointed to Natsu, who cringed slightly at the scolding.

"Sorry..." he muttered. Happy sat on Natsu's shoulder and was sniffling slightly with laughter. Then Natsu stiffened, his head dropped down as he thought of something. "Hey Erza, what about Bartemius?"

Erza stiffened. "What!?"

"We were able to break out of here anyway, we should go get him, and bring him back to the guild!" Erza recalled Nathan's earlier comments. And quickly agreed. As they hurried back Erza felt a growing unease. Something was wrong, she just knew it. Even Natsu and Happy seemed to pick up on the mood and the three were silent the whole time. If they had had Lucy she at least would have complained about the running that they were doing... But it was just quiet.

When they got there Erza was totally unprepared for what met them.

A rotten scent hung in the air, stinging her eyes and nose. Blood was spattered everywhere. "What... What is it?" came Happy's childish, horrified voice. Natsu had covered Happy's eyes with one of his hands. They looked for what happened.

They searched for a few minutes before they finally found something. It was Natsu who had found it.

"Erza... L-Look at this!" he sounded uneasy and the red haired demon walked over to him. There were chunks of burnt flesh and scattered blood, but no full body. "Bartemius... I told you we shouldn't have left him behind!"

"I'm sorry Natsu." Erza apologized. Natsu was too angry to respond.

"Natsu, are you alright? Who was this guy?" Happy asked the dragonslayer.

"He helped us escaped, and told us of these guy's plans too."

"Oh..." Happy said sadly. Erza walked up to Natsu and set a hand on his shoulder. He would have been alive still if she hadn't suggested that they leave him behind... It was all her fault. A tear rolled down her eye and fell to the ground.

"Come on, we need to get back to the guild."

* * *

><p>"Well I suppose this place is... Alright," Megan muttered as she pulled on a black jacket over her light pink shirt. A miniskirt, a Lucy-short kind of miniskirt revealed the majority of her pale legs. The black and pink thing made Juvia suppose that it looked cute... But the ring mage better not make a move on her Gray-sama! Gray-sama was Juvia's and Juvia's alone.<p>

"Geeze Juvia, now I remember why I never went on any missions with you..." Gray moaned quietly, loud enough only for Juvia to hear. "Anyway, we got the room so that we can stay out of sight of the main residents and remain hidden easier. After we get to the guild we won't have to hide as much alright?"

After they had reached the room they had realized that there was only two bedrooms and the main room. With only one bed in each room. The three had fought for over an hour about how Juvia wanted to sleep with Gray-sama in his room, but ended up sharing a room with the auburn haired mage. Not that it really mattered as when Gray woke up that morning Juvia was sleeping with him. Has anyone ever heard such a beautiful man-scream but dear Juvia?

"Juvia agrees with Gray-sama! This room is very well hidden, staying out of sight won't be a problem." the blunette defended. Megan rolled her eyes at another mention of the word Gray-sama. She walked over to the door and tapped it impatiently.

"So who all is coming with anyway?"

"Until we get to the guild me and Juvia have to hide, so just you." Gray said. Megan huffed and opened the door.

"Okay whatever, cya." The door made a loud sound, butr the two ex-Fairy Tail mages weren't paying attention to the door.

"So what does Gray-sama want to do? Juvia wants to spend all of her time here with Gray-sama, maybe even a little time in one of our beds!" Juvia could just picture her and Gray having a fling in his bed, then the distant wedding bells, and then the children. Gray facepalmed. He looked like he was about to slam his head against the wall and Juvia rushed over to him.

"Um...Juvia, get away and drop the topic now!"

"But why? Doesn't Gray-sama love Juvia? Juvia has been too distracted to ask about it but now that we have time Juvia wants to spend time with you." By now Gray's cheeks were slightly pink, although he was visibly straining to hide emotion. Juvia giggled a bit. Gray pressed himself against the wall and started wiggling away. But Juvia wouldn't allow that, she took Gray's hand and pulled him back over to her. He was rushed forward and in haste threw his arms around her. When the entire action was finished Juvia found her head pressed against Gray's chest.

"Juvia... Get off me..." Gray said in a short, strained voice. Juvia felt her water body grow warm and she thought that she would loose her solidity. She ignored his voice and pressed against him harder. How secure she felt in her savior, her precious, precious savior. He made no attempt to move away, either that or time just froze for the water mage.

No one else had ever actually attempted to be closer to her than just an acquaintance, or a enemy. There was Jose who had invited her to join Phantom Lord... But that was for her power, she never actually got all that close to the others, they had sorta considered her just as gloomy as the others had. She had felt such gratitude for Jose that she was completely loyal to him, not that her experience being there was all that bad after all... After all, she had met her Gray-sama.

Gray had done more than anyone had actually tried to do before. He both helped her dispel the rain and he even saved her from falling. He was her savior, and she would make sure that he knew it. Her loyalty was to those that actually wanted her, that cared. And Gray was the first one to pull her out of the dark hold of depression, the one that actually made her bright.

"Hey Gray-sama... Why are you doing this?" She could feel him tense up, and almost regretted the question.

"I...I can't tell you that... I did it because I wanted to, even if I didn't I would have had to get it? now drop it." The water mage's heart fell slightly, but she didn't believe it for a second. She ditched the thoughts Gray lying. Juvia would much rather savor the moment.

Her arms were wrapped around his and she inhaled and exhaled softly. He felt cold, but it wasn't a freezing cold, it was a soothing cold. It was a chill that calmed her nerves. She didn't have anyone but Gray and Megan, and Megan definitely was not a Gray-sama. The only true Gray-sama was _HER_ Gray-sama.

A Gray-sama she could never let leave her.

The two were so oblivious to everything but their situation that they didn't notice the two green eyes peeping outside the door. Or the fact that the door was sprung open and that their teammate walked through it.

"Awww, its so cute! Ya'know I think I ship the two of you!" Megan smiled. Gray sprang away from Juvia instantly, pushing her aside while she was in shock.

"It's not what you think it is, she wouldn't let go of me!" Gray shouted indignantly. Her smiled switched to a smirk.

"Yup... I'm sure thats what happened, I must be going blind then. Considering I've been watching since I left the room." Her voice rose as she talked, till it was an annoying giggle.

"Juvia was just cuddling with Gray-sama! You interrupted us!" Juvia said. Her tone was grumpy and a little bit of an apology slipped into Megan's smile.

"Okay okay, I'll be going now. You two have fun." she waved to the two other mages again as she hopefully left for real.

As the door shut the two just stood there in silence. Uncertain what to do.

"Gray-sama... "

Then Gray announced he would be heading off to his room and dashed away, leaving the Blunette all alone. He had dropped his guard, if only for a few moments. However by the time he came out of his room it would certainly be back on. The thought saddened the water mage. Her attempts to brighten him up were growing dimmer with every try. His zodiac blue eyes seemed emotionless and cold.

Juvia sighed and retreated to her own room, she would have to find some way to pass on the time.

* * *

><p>In the village, Megan was busy picking up supplies, as well as picking up tidbets of information. She also spotted a few guys checking her out and enjoyed the attention. Some people might call her a whore or a slut but she wasn't encouraging them or dressing skimpily right? Most of these guys were like Taka anyway so there wasn't any point.<p>

And so the day breezed by as she spun and slipped around the town. She did find something interesting though, a merchant was selling minor magic items at a stall outside of the mage's bar. That wasn't there last night... Was it? Megan moved closer to his and gave the guy a wink. He smiled back. _I'm sure that I can get some sort of discount out of this guy if I look pretty enough!_

Her gaze instantly darted to a few rings, they were labled as cheap magic. It obviously was nothing more than show, an item that would allow even those who could not yield magic to use them. As the only mage of the family; Megan's sister tried to use such items for awhile. They were slightly jealous, that's why Megan left the first time, to practice the craft her family envied her of.

"Excuse me sir, what kind of rings are those?" she inquired. The man glanced down at them lazily.

"Appearance changing rings, they have a hundred uses on them. Thirty-thousand jewels." Thirty-thousand? Wasn't that a little much? Maybe she could use her sex appeal. She spent a good hour haggling for them, and finally managed to get two of them at a ten-thousand jewel discount. It was a decent amount she supposed. _Those two had better thank me for this, it's my own money and not the cash that Gray lent me._

She finished with a giant bag that she had to drag back to the hotel. She could have gone without the weird looks that were directed at her, but it couldn't be helped. The ring mage wondered what she would see when she opened the door. _If its anything like what happened this morning... Then I'd better hurry back so I can see it!_

But when she arrived the main room was empty, they must have retreated to their rooms. Plus there was no sound to suggest anything more. "HEY GUYS GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE!"

* * *

><p>Juvia's mind was ripped out of the book she was reading. Megan was calling. She closed it and got off her bed. She opened her door to see Megan carrying a bag full of goods and Gray standing outside of his room bleary-eyed. As if he had been sleeping.<p>

"I got something special for you two, wanna see?" she rummaged through her bag and pulled out two rings. Juvia tilted her head at the ring mage in confusion. "Their disguise rings, they will disguise you two for an hour with about a hundred charges. It's the same appearance each time and shouldn't be all that uncomfortable."

"Will they allow us to roam around town?" Megan nodded and tossed the ring at her. It landed in Juvia's hand with a soft "plop" and she scrutinized it carefully. It was silver, not a gold ring that real ring mages often used. A small face was on it. It had a line splitting it with half, with the face of one person on one half, and a different face on another.

"Go ahead, try them on!" urged Megan.

Juvia and Gray exchanged glances, then pulled them on. They both tapped the signet carefully, and felt a slight drain on their magic. It disappeared quickly though, and they felt it wash around their bodies. It wrapped them in it's cold and tingling embrace and slinked back into the ring. The first thing Juvia noticed was not her new appearance, but her Gray-sama's visuals.

He no longer had spikey raven black hair with dark, zodiac blue eyes. Instead his short white hair fell flatly to his shoulders, the tips were blue. His iris had brightened and was now a piercing ice color. His teeth were sharper as well. They were almost like Natsu's canine ones.

Juvia heard a gasp and looked up. Megan stared at Juvia with her mouth gaping, then dug out a mirror from the bag. She showed Juvia her appearance. It was just as surprising as Gray's... If not more. Gray seemed rather startled as well. Her skin had turned darker, it was a dark olive skin tone with brown-black hair. It fell down to her shoulders as well, and was just as curly as before.

"Hmmm... I guess these things work better than I thought they would..." said Megan cheerfully.

* * *

><p><strong>So how was that? Good? Bad?... Too slow or rushed? Is Gray OOC? I can never tell... I tried to put in a sweet Gruvia moment (all of their moments seem to happen through accidents huh? I promise it there will be intentional ones later!)I feel like I rather failed on ending the chapter too... But the next one will pick up right where this left off and it's just for the sake of more evened out chapters.<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**OMG Sakura-con was so much fun! Did any of you guys go? You might have seen me! I was one of the very very few Juvia Lockser's there. I was one of the ones in her fairy tail outfit. **

**Sorry for the late update, I've been working on another project that has demanded immediate attention and I haven't been able to work on this. This chapter is smaller than the last two but I hope you guys enjoy it while I am finishing all my heavy work before next month. **

**Also they are going to need a team name once they get into Hellfire Imp, I really don't want to just call them team Gray… That sounds so bland, so what do you guys think their team name should be? Please put suggestions in you review, well if you want too. Your feedback helps me out a lot!**

* * *

><p>"Now remember, no stripping!" Megan commanded. She turned and grabbed Juvia's hand before leaving and pulling Juvia with. Juvia look startled and followed. Her shirt was the same spring green color as Megan's eyes and she wore simple jeans, while Gray was wearing a… Toga?<p>

Megan burst into laughter, while Juvia's eyes widened. Gray facepalmed. They were at least wearing average clothing, he was stuck wearing this thing whenever he activated his ring.

"My, my, don't you look heroic," said Megan with false sweetness. Juvia smiled giddily at him and rushed over to him, pulling her hand away from Megan's.

"Juvia thinks that Gray-sama looks handsome as always!" Gray moaned and stomped away to his room to change, no way was he going to march around town wearing a toga. He came out wearing a normal T-shirt and pants.

"How's this?" he gestured towards his clothing.

"Boring and simple, but its presentable," Megan simply said.

Juvia shot her a fiery glance, and then turned her dark blue orbs to Gray and they softened. "Gray-sama looks good in whatever he wears!"

There was a slight snort from Megan and Juvia glared at Megan again.

"Okay, okay calm down you two. Thanks to these disguises we can all go out now, these will hopefully allow us to get back to the guild based without being discovered too." Gray and the two girls shared looks. Then, without speaking, they turned and left their room.

It was still nice outside, so they tried to enjoy as much as the weather as they could. Gray looked for Juvia but panicked slightly when he couldn't find her… Then he remembered that the stalkerish dark-skinned girl next to him that was staring at him with large pink orbs _was_ Juvia.

"Hmmm, we should have code names!" Megan suggested. She pointed a pale finger to Juvia. "You can be Nala." Juvia looked puzzled at the name but the auburn haired mage just shrugged in reply before moving to Gray. "Gray you can be Noah."

"Juvia doesn't think that the idea-" Juvia started, but Gray didn't let her finish.

"-It's a good idea, if we use our same names then it will be a dead giveaway. Do you need a new name Megan?" Gray asked the ring mage. Megan hesitated while in thought, then put forth her answer.

"I don't really think so, I'm pretty sure that the people we are trying to avoid don't really know me well enough for it to be a problem. The only people I've really talked to have been those Team Shadow Gear mages."

Gray nodded. "Okay then lets split up and look around for information, we can leave for the guild later." He turned, ignoring Juvia's sparkling gaze.

"Juvia… Juvia means Nala will go with Noah-sama!" Gray stopped and facepalmed.

"You two can partner up together and go…" He turned and gave Juvia a scolding look. "And Juvia, if you act so obviously like yourself you'll be found out anyway, try talking normally." He hurried and disappeared into the growing crowd, leaving the two alone.

"Juvia…I mean I will try!" Juvia said with determination. Megan chuckled and grabbed Juvia's hand. She tugged the water mage farther into the crowd on the opposite direction and went to go enjoy the day.

* * *

><p>A man with icy cobalt eyes walked into a dimly lit room. Wall sconces lit up with light lacrima and in front of him stood another, with dark eyes as well as hair. He stood tall above the other with a jagged scar down the left side of his face. Black letters <em>Absolute Zero <em>on armor appeared where the sconce flames shed light.

"The prophecy is getting closer to its due date… Are you sure things will go alright?" asked the man with the cobolt eyes.

"Yes, yes Apollion, things will be fine. As long as we have an ice mage to sacrifice, one that is not tainted by demonic presence." Continued the unnamed one.

Apollion bowed. If this plan worked, then his guild would rule supreme in the ashes of hellfire. Funny, in order to bring forth fire and rebirth, the world had to go through frost and destruction. Acnologia would be hard to control, but they had followed their directions and finally were able to create the artifact that would channel a mage's lifeforce to manipulate a more powerful being's mind.

"The ice mage I found is skilled, and he has agreed under for the sake of his guildmates. Of course, he has little sake in the matter anyway since it _is _a prophecy. And prophecies always fulfill themselves." Apollion replied. Oh how fun it was in making the ice mage realize how his days were so numbered, how as long as his guildmates were with him their days were numbered as well.

The unknown man shot Apollion a fierce glare. "This had better not mess up, Tartoros failed because they underestimated this guild, don't make the same mistake!" Apollion nodded in fear and backed out of the room, leaving the other man alone in side. "One more thing Apollion, when the ice mage comes here, bring him to me!"

A slight shiver rushed through Apollion when he noticed the closed doors now behind him. Why did the master want the ice mage though? He worked his mind around the question futilely as he walked away.

* * *

><p>Gray's gaze flashed from stall to stall. He carefully scanned every face that moved past him. There wasn't much to do other than search for information to bring back to the guild, but that was just to delay them leaving.<p>

Apollion had told him as he left the warehouse to go straight to the main guild. Gray was supposed to suffer no distractions or delays, just move straight back. He was even given a map to do so. _The mountains north of Onibus… Southeast of Mt. Hakobe. _There were very few people up there; it was a good spot for a base. And with the trail of towns suited to the train that ran through the east side of Fiore it was close enough to civilization to prevent total isolation and shortage of supplies.

A flash of blue caught his eye and his head turned. It was Levy.

The blunette was wearing her usual orange dress, and had kept the same messy hairstyle. Jet and Droy were following close behind her, carrying large bags while Levy carried a simple one. _Are they leaving town? I wonder if they found anything on me? Well one way to find out. _

Gray pushed and shoved through the crowds before breaking through into a cleared patch of ground. Well it wasn't exactly completely clear, it was a picnic area. It wasn't that hard for Gray to spot team Shadow Gear, they were the only ones sitting down at a table.

Gray checked to make sure that his disguise was still on before heading towards the Fairy Tail mages.

"Hey cutie."

Levy turned to Gray with a startled expression on her face. Gray smiled to her and sat down next to her.

"Ummm….Excuse me?"

"You heard me, I think your cute!" Gray smiled while Levy's eyebrow twitched. It was obvious that Levy wasn't sure what to make of it. _Damn Gajeel, how on earthland do you manage to charm this bookworm?_ _That metalhead doesn't even try!_

"Um thanks but-"

"Our Levy is not for sharing!" shouted Jet and Droy. They glared indignantly at Gray, who lifted his hands innocently.

"Hey, hey sorry there. I wasn't aware that such a stunning princess existed, you have an intelligent aura around you too. You are way smarter than the girls I am use to seeing back home." Gray slipped Levy another charming smile. She smiled back, albeit uneasily.

"So, your name is Levy huh? Mines Noah," Gray said.

Levy blushed. Gray imagined himself weaving his fingers through her blue hair. Gazing into her blue eyes and tugging off her Cossack hat. He could see her blushing cheeks and hear the 'Gray-sama' that rang through his ears.

Wait… Levy didn't have blue eyes or a Cossack hat, only Juvia wore that. Nor did Levy ever called Gray, Gray-sama. _Damn. _Gray got distracted by that stalkerish water mage, now Levy was looking at him weirdly.

"Are you alright? You seem to be spacing," she said politely. Gray mutely nodded and instead grabbed her hand.

"I'm sorry." He started blushing, though he didn't mean to. _Why do I have to do this kind of stuff? I never did when I was in Fairy Tail! _He bit his lip and scolded himself. _It doesn't matter what I did in Fairy Tail now. _

"Oh, um… err… Its fine!" Levy stuttered. Out of the corner of his eye Gray saw Jet and Droy sulking on the other side of the table, obviously haven given up on their blue haired comrade.

"So, you're a guild mage huh? What guild are you apart of?" Gray asked.

"Oh, I'm a Fairy Tail mage… Are you apart of a guild?"

"Nah, I prefer being a freelance mage."

"Oh…"

There was a slightly awkward silence. Gray just stood there with her hand still in his, why was trying to do this so difficult? Was it because he thought of her as Gajeel's? Or maybe he just really couldn't find anything about the short bookworm that could even remotely turn him on, maybe he saw her as a sister or friend too much.

Or was he thinking of Juvia?

"So, news travels fast about Fairy Tail, being a popular guild and everything. Any news on the teammates you lost or that traitor?" That made Levy stiffen, and Gray wondered if he maybe brought it up too early.

She muttered something that sounded like a curse, with Megan's name somewhere in there. She looked up at him and studied him carefully. He noticed her face was beet red and that she was really warm. He wasn't sure if it was fever or embarrassment. "Um, I would prefer it if you backed away please. Then I'll tell you." Gray did as she commanded and she continued.

"We were recently contacted by the guild through communication lacrima, it appears our imprisoned teammate have returned, and have information about what is going on. The traitor was an ice make mage within our guild and we haven't had a single sight of him since the incident." Her eyes were downcast and the rest of team Shadow Gear was glaring daggers at Gray.

Levy was squirming slightly, and Gray decided that he had gotten out all the information that he needed. He stood up and withdrew his hand.

"Well, thanks for the fun. But unfortunately I have to go now, good luck… Fairy Tail." He turned and walked away, leaving the Fairy Tail mages standing there in confusion.

He smiled, feeling pretty confident about himself. Then he noticed that his shirt was gone.

He had started to strip while talking with Levy…

A little while into his walk back to their meeting place, Gray started to feel a slight tingling. The ring on his finger started blinking on and off. _It must be the signal that my disguise is about to wear off. And if I put it back on… I'll end up wearing a stupid toga! _Gray glanced from side to side, checking to make sure that he wasn't being seen, before darting in the alley that was just a little ways in front of him.

He was just in time too, as soon as he darted into the shadows he felt his body change. He felt his magic drain into the ring, flow out over his body in silvery light, then retreat into the ring. He was wearing his usual pants and boots, with nothing else. The dark blue Fairy Tail mark was still on his chest, and he frowned at it.

_I'm going to have to remove it when I get to Hellfire Imp, otherwise others will find out, including that ring mage Megan. _Gray groaned and looked at his ring. Would it disguise his guild mark? He tapped it again and that same feeling of being converted in magic repeated itself.

He looked at his pure white toga and ripped it off, leaving only a pair of white shorts, he felt much better. And thankfully there was no guild mark on his chest, this disguise was pretty good if you got past the freaking toga.

He walked out, and bumped into a woman. It took him a few minutes, but he quickly recognized the woman as Juvia, and the one next to her as Megan.

"Um… You took your clothes off?" asked Megan. Gray nodded and she sighed "whatever."

"I think that Gray-I mean Noah looks amazing!" said Juvia, scanning him with her dark blue eyes.

A person walked past the group, and Gray's eyes darkened. He grabbed the two other mages and pulled them back into the alley.

"So I found Levy." Juvia gasped and Megan looked slightly surprised. "Apparently the captured mages escaped and made their way back to Fairy Tail. No other ex-Fairy Tail has been sighted by them either, that means we are safe." Juvia let out a breath of relief.

"Well that's good, but why does Fairy Tail matter so much to you two anyway?"

Juvia and Gray froze. The ice mage shot Megan a hostile look but Juvia rushed over and began whispering in her ear. He couldn't hear what they were trying to say but afterwards the ring mage settled down and just nodded. Gray wondered what had passed between them.

"Well if you two are done chatting and everything I think that it is time for us to leave," Gray said. The two nodded. "Lets go."

They walked the rest of the day, determined to get to the base of Hellfire Imp. Gray felt goosebumps rise, which felt weird. He wasn't cold nor was he scared. There seemed to be a heavy sense of forewarning ahead. What would happen?

Gray didn't notice Juvia watching him with concern in his eyes as they walked. Megan's eyes were also upon him, although she was more intrigued than concerned. These two had stuck with him despite everything that could possibly happen, even Megan, who definitely didn't trust him completely and was loyal only to Juvia; The water mage was always loyal to him, recent events proved that.

He remained absorbed in his thoughts. So did Juvia and Megan. When he finally looked up he noticed the guild hall looming in front of him.

It was too dark to make out much detail, but what he could tell was a elegantly made silhouette made of a dark-almost-black building material. _Wood?_ It was made in reminiscent of eastern architecture. The curves and thatch-looking roofs.

"Well… Here we are…" Gray murmured. A rough voice echoed out of the woods behind him.

"Ah Gray, so glad to see you made it here so well. However… Who are these two people with you? I did tell you to come alone."

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry about the shorter chapter, it must be way shorter than what you guys are used to after the last few chapters, don't worry though the next one should be longer, more even with the other two (as in around 3.5k instead of over 4k or under 3k words.<strong>

**Please let me know what you think about the chapter and what the name for Team Gray should be!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys I'm so sorry for the huge delay. To answer a couple of your guy's questions, yeah that was Silver in the last chapter. AND OMG THE NEWEST CHAPTER SCARES ME! Although… That newest chapter puts a huge split of canon for a lot of my Fairy Tail writing for some reason. In both this story and my upcoming one. **

**And that new opening from yesterday's new episode rocks too. If the future openings are going to be like the two ones that we have seen so far in this series of Fairy Tail then I'm definitely gonna love this series's openings as much as I loved the previous ones!**

**I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, this is going to clear up a lot of mystery of the story probably. **

Gray stiffened and turned around. Apollion stood there with a cold expression on his face.

"I was wondering how you managed to take so long Gray. I mean we left from the same place, you left before I did! And I still got back here way before you did." The man gave a proud grin that quickly reversed into a frown. "But who are these two?"

Gray cleared his throat, but Juvia moved forward. "Juvia and Megan are Gray-sama's teammates. We helped him along the way here and wish to join the guild with Gray-sama." The blue haired woman didn't notice Gray facepalming behind her or Megan's awkward look.

Apollion looked her over carefully, perhaps with a little more attention then a man should have given a woman. Gray noticed this with narrowed eyes. Then Apollion brought his gaze back to Gray's. "Okay then, lets talk about it more inside. I'm sure you three have been outside and traveling for long enough, especially after a fight."

The man turned and stalked away, leaving the three to follow him inside the dark base. Juvia felt slight chills down her body and wondered briefly if her body could possibly freeze from water to ice. She dismissed the thought and braced herself for what could possibly happen inside the Hellfire Imp headquarters.

The halls were dark and although there was faint noise that could be heard from up ahead their footprints echoed around them. Juvia glanced at Megan; the ring mage was staring at a dark mark on Apollion's shoulder, the smirking face of an imp sat on his skin in black. _Is it their guildmark? _She seemed unusually pale and stiff while she stared at it. Juvia felt slightly confused.

"Umm Megan— Are you all right?"

The woman jumped slightly and gave Juvia a nervous look. "Of course!" Her voice sounded a little too perky, like she was trying too hard to sound alright.

They reached the end of the hallway and a brightly lit room greeted them. Juvia looked around. It was full of dark mages and she felt hairs rise on her arms from the cold looks they gave her. Tension floated around the room until Apollion laughed.

"Come on guys, no need to get quiet all of a sudden. We just got some new recruits, that's all." The guild master waved a hand and the sound level in the room went from silent to shaking with noise. "Now listen up." He didn't bother to glance over his shoulder or look at them in any way as he continued. "Gray will come with me. We have some… things to discuss. You two girls can stay and get comfy with your new guildmates. I'll have someone escort you to your rooms later."

He walked off with Gray following him, leaving the two girls behind.

"Hey there." They turned to the voice behind them and saw a girl with a couple of piercings and a pink Mohawk. "You're newbs right? Welcome to Hell." She smirked. "Name's Amy."

* * *

><p>"I thought you were determined to save your guildmates, instead you let one of them join you when you know what's going to happen?" Apollion asked Gray. He closed and reopened his blue eyes with a sigh.<p>

"It's not as if I chose her to follow me… She did it of her own accord, and I can't just let her rot away from being heartbroken."

A hard chuckle followed that. "So you like her?"

"What no!" But Gray glanced over his shoulder to make sure that the said stalker wasn't listening it; he could never tell if she was.

"Well then leaving her shouldn't be a problem now should it? I'm really surprised that you think your old guild really stands a chance against us, or the prophecy." Apollion lifted his hand to his head and scratched it half-heartedly. Gray felt a ripple of disgust, his body twitched in reaction to the emotion.

"Fairy Tail can do anything if they need to; I only wish that I would be alive to join them against you," Gray said, his voice was frigid and lined with a razor sharp edge. They continued walking.

"Wow, for a traitor you sure are loyal, it's a good thing that you only need to fulfill the prophecy." His head turned and met Gray's gaze. Distrust was exchanged faster than light and within the speed of a second his head turned back around.

_Stupid prophecy, I know it's lame to believe that it will come true but I just feel it. I'm not sure I can really fight it. And my only hope of it ending is Fairy Tail realizing what the danger is and overcoming it? _He shook his head. There was such a small chance of that happening.

"I am still doing it aren't I?" Gray growled. The two lapsed into a tense silence. Gray observed that they were taking different directions then he did in the one previous time he was here and shot Apollion a questioning look.

As if reading his mind, the man spoke. "There's someone who needs to talk to you, you'll know him when you see him. But there is business that be discussed right away." Gray suddenly felt a chill, which was strange considering that his body was already as cold as ice. There was a sinking feeling that whoever this man he had to speak to was, both him and the conversation wasn't going to be pleasant.

They reached the room and Gray watched as Apollion tersely opened the door. It was large and black and radiated cold magical energy.

They walked in. Gray saw the one man he never wanted to see again in his life and stiffened. His fists clenched and his nails dug into his cold skin. "Deliora!" he spat.

Silver, or Deliora as he really was, smiled. "Good to see you again, son."

"I'm not your son you bastard." Silver's eyebrow rose at that and he let out a chuckle.

"I see that you haven't changed since the fight that we had a while ago."

The sound of a slap was left hanging in the air as Gray strode up to his "father" and struck his face with his hand. "I see that you are still alive after all of it." Gray's voice was cold and unpleased, and he eyed at the man in front of him with obvious distaste.

"It's not as if I am exactly pleased at you still being here either Gray. Unfortunately I need you to accomplish something for me, otherwise I would like for nothing more than to destroy you." Silver said testily. He matched word with action and shoved Gray away. He had done it with more force than intended and the ice mage stumbled against the wall on the opposite side of the room.

Gray leaned away from the wall and prepared to use his magic, but was stopped with a loud coughing from Apollion. "I thought we were actually going to get something done this time?" He glared icicles at Silver. "You asked to see him, don't kill him now that he's here. It's bad enough you can't do the damn thing! Don't kill the only other known one who can."

"Psh. It's not as if I'm anything special, there's nothing stopping you two from finding some other ice make mage around. It's not a lost magic." Gray stuck his hands in his pockets. He raised an eyebrow at the demon in front of him. "Hey wait a minute… _Deliora_. You're an ice mage yourself, why can't you do it? Haven't you thought of doing it, or are you too afraid of losing your own life again?"

Both Gray and Apollion both fully expected Silver to get mad and do something. Instead the man just stood still and smiled. He chuckled and stared Gray in the eye coolly. His black eyes met Gray's dark blue. "Yes while I do desire keeping my own life throughout this prophecy. I'm afraid the main reason I cannot be the one to fulfill it. After our last fight I've been severely drained of my former power, and in this case I cannot supply the amount of strength needed to cast the final spell. Also, while the prophecy might be vague and simply mention ice magic, I'm sure that my ice demonslayer magic counts."

He moved quietly over to Gray. The action was so deftly done that Gray didn't even realize that Silver was in front of him. "And you _are _the only one who can do this. You were taught by Ur herself, and Ultear unfortunately is not here now nor did she inherit her mother's skill with ice make. We need you to do this."

"So let me get this straight," Gray started. "You want me to sacrifice myself with a reverse Iced Shell to summon Acnologia, and you are going to use _my_ sacrifice to cause the end of the world. How the hell does that benefit you anyway Deliora? Doesn't that mean that you lose your life anyway?"

Silver shrugged, and a gleam of fake innocence sparked in his eyes. "I'm too weak to do anything anyway. There can be no world domination when I am trapped in this form and my magic is significantly weaker. Our last fight guaranteed my days of being a large, mass murdering demon were over." He gave a light smile. "Besides, humans are on the verge of wiping each other out soon. Demons are plotting as time moves on and things are happening that not even we demons have a clue what is going on. Destruction is a part of life and if it doesn't come one way, it comes another. You mortals have known this your whole lives, after you live you die. The earth would be the same."

Gray was stunned, speechless, unable to act. The amount of lies that he could so blatantly see through. Did this demon really believe that Gray would buy it? _No. Deliora was smarter than that. Or was he being honest. _Why were demons so fond of mind tricks? Gray's mind stumbled through the thoughts and he wished that the demon would reveal his deep intentions.

A scoff from Apollion seemed to signal agreement with Gray's thoughts. Silver clearly didn't give the full answer. Although… His words had a shred of sense in them, something that made perfect sense, something that Gray already knew.

Silver seemed satisfied. "But the ritual to use reverse Iced Shell isn't for another few months at least, I suggest you spend some time with these teammates of yours for that time. Besides we still need to still track down the relics."

"Relics?" Gray asked. This wasn't something he had been told of before. Despite being the key part of the plan he had only been told little of it. Apollion nodded his head a little.

"The relic we need to control Acnologia. If we just summon him without it then it will be mindless destruction, which will lead to the world being wiped out. But with the right artifact…" He glanced at Silver.

"-we'll be able to control the damage, and rule this world." The demon finished.

"But you guys said that the world would be destroyed!"

"And it will, but if we do this right there will still be people left over to revive it afterwards." Silver said. He gave him a slight wave of his hand in dismissal of his anger, which only infuriated Gray more. His fists clenched. How could they be so nonchalant about this? "We will still rule and rebuild."

"But all I'm doing is dying to serve your guy's intentions. Like this even Fairy Tail will be obliterated. And you guys said that they would be left out of it."

"No. _You're _the one who said that they would make it out of this and stop us Gray. Did you really guess that we would leave Fairy Tail unharmed? They've interfered with plans before, nothing is going to stop them from interfering again because of their _friends_," sneered Apollion. The dark guildmaster folded his arms across his chest. His amused expression caused his cold rage to continue to bubble. Not how rage. All of him was cold at this point. Except for a small ember a hope that sparked when Apollion mentioned Fairy Tail. Gray guessed that maybe he wasn't frozen solid inside after all.

"It doesn't matter what I do, because they _will _stop you in the end. Whether I die or not," Gray said. He held both Apollion's and Silver's stares and made them understand. He was not doing this willingly. But he could tell they weren't convinced.

"What about your blue-haired friend who was eyeing you fondly," it was more of a statement than a question. Gray stiffened. Juvia was the kind of person who would stop at nothing to save him, and follow him to the afterlife if he died. He had foolishly taken the one person who would try to die with him-if not for him-when he died, instead of leaving her at the guild. He couldn't do that. He cared for the water mage too much to let that happen.

_But she has Megan, and I'm sure Fairy Tail would happily take her back after this whole thing is over. She is one of us after all. _There it went. He said _us. _He thought it as if he was still one of them. _Maybe I still am. _He thought amusingly. _But I can't count myself with them anymore. _Juvia's heart may break, but he hoped that somehow she might actually find the love that she deserves.

He realized that one of the guys in the room said something, so he tuned back into them to hear. "What?"

Apollion sighed and Silver kept his motionless posture. He didn't even move with breath. Why should he? He's an ice demon with a dead body as a vessel, it's not as if oxygen was on his list of needs.

"I said, Fullbuster, that by your silence then obviously she wouldn't take your death very well." His the edges of his mouth lessened slightly in their frown. "That makes more enjoyable suffering to see."

"Juvia will manage just fine with my death. She has Megan to help her through everything." Gray purged any emotion from his voice with his statement. He was starting to lose the frozen ice wall he had adopted to make his decent into darkness easier, but being around Juvia was starting to soften it. Which was a bad thing to do here of all places. He would have to be more careful.

"Anyway, onto your mission Gray. I trust that by your leisurely pace getting here you do have enough energy by now to do another mission?" Silver asked.

Gray nodded. "Yea, what do I need to do?"

"It's not something you need to do on your own, I think that you might have more success with your friends helping you on the mission."

"Okay." Gray nodded. There wasn't much time to waste if they had to find a set of relics in a few months. "Where's the first one?"

Apollion chuckled and beckoned Gray over to the desk him and Silver now stood at. Gray heeded the gesture and looked down at a map of Fiore.

"This is where the first one is believed to be." He pointed to an area on the map. Gray looked at it with a raised eyebrow.

* * *

><p>"So you're only sixteen, and you've already destroyed half of a legal guild?" Juvia asked. She felt a small weight in her stomach at the thought of a legal guild, one that could have possibly been one of Fairy Tail's allies, attacked. With half of their members murdered in the end by the earth make mage. She gave a proud grin.<p>

"Yup!" she shouted over the loud partying noise of the background. Most of the other members of the guild were hanging out and chattering, leaving Amy, Juvia and Megan to their own little conversation.

Juvia shuddered slightly. She glanced over at Megan to see her reaction. The ring mage had visibly relaxed, although there was still a hesitant gleam in her eyes that showed her resistance to calm down.

"Oh both you and Juvia are so young, and so powerful. Meanwhile I can hardly do much more than keep a few rings activated over a little while," Megan said. She glared at them with eyes full of playful envy.

"How old are you Megan?" Amy asked. Whatever happened to don't ask a woman her age apparently was never told to her. Although Megan didn't seem to bothered by it.

"Thirty-four." She answered. The two offered surprised looks at the ring mage.

"Juvia is surprised, Megan looks so young!" Juvia gushed. Megan laughed and smiled. Apparently the phrase "never ask a girl her age" was never taught to Juvia. Thankfully Megan didn't seem to mind much.

"Well of course! How else do you think I would find a boyf-" she broke off and averted her gaze. Juvia could see that she was still not entirely over her boyfriend. She wished that her new best friend would find love like her and her Gray-sama.

What was her Gray-sama talking about in the other room with that scary looking man? Juvia found herself instinctually looking in the direction he went in. _Should Juvia be worried about Gray-sama?_

"Hey Juvia." She turned back to the two girls. Megan smiled at her, although the stress generated from the last question still showed plainly on her face. "How old are you?"

"Juvia is eighteen," she replied with a smile of her own.

"Really? Argh, that means I'm the oldest, and by a lot too!" Megan said, gaping slightly. _What age did Megan think Juvia was?_ Juvia gave the ring mage a weird look.

Before Juvia could bring it up though Amy drew the focus back to herself, her expression serious. " You two seem pretty decent, actually you guys seem like you would be in more of a light guild than a dark one. Why here"

"Megan is helping Juvia, and Juvia goes where her Gray-sama goes!"

"Who's Gray? That guy you guys came in with. I've only seen him here once, and you say that he's already apart of the guild? Weird… Although he has some pretty dark plans with the guild master, that much I know."

"Juvia will assist Gray-sama however she can, Juvia loves him too much to let her darling's plans fail," she declared.

"I will assist him as well, as far as Juvia wants us to," she said with a slight blush on her face on the conversation of Gray.

"Hey Amy, that auburn hair looks familiar, I've seen her somewhere before," said a green haired girl who had just sauntered up to them. She placed stood partially on one of the seats and stared intensely at Megan. "What's your name?"

"Megan, Megan Wish," she said, narrowing her eyes as she did so. She appeared tense and hostile. Her arms were crossed and her expression was calm but expressionless. Juvia was confused. _Megan once said her last name was Foxlord though, why would she lie here? _

There was something more to Megan, and Juvia wasn't sure whether to press it or leave it. She decided to question her about it later.

"Oh okay, I remember having a super rich client long ago, I don't really remember the first name… I suck with those; I only remember that the last name was Foxlord… Oh and her name started with M!" A ball of frozen water plumped into Juvia's stomach harshly at that. It sounded like it was Megan, but not only was Megan denying it but if it was Megan she was requesting help from a dark guild.

Apparently the ring mage had a lot more of a past then she let on.

"But your memory is extremely buggy anyway Jeskyre, even if you can remember last names it's amazing if you remember much else. Which is rather hilarious considering your supposed to use northern solid script!" Amy said with a chuckle and gave her friend a teasing look. "I bet that you can't remember half the words that you have to write!" Her friend gave her an annoyed look in return.

Juvia looked between the two other member's exchange and Megan. She stood up and peered down at her feet. She needed to think about these things. She heard the scuffle of feet and a hand gently placed on her shoulder. She glanced back up and stared into Megan's green eyes.

Juvia thought she saw Megan give a slight smile at her, perhaps an attempt to reassure her? However there was an indescribable gleam of emotion that darkened her eyes to a dark green. Juvia gave a slight nod to the ring mage, words being spoken silently between each other. Then Megan removed her hand and Juvia coughed, to both clear her throat and to gather their attention.

Juvia opened her mouth slightly and the girl named Jeskyre perked up slightly. "Oh yeah, I need to give you guy's your Hellfire Imp guild marks!" She withdrew a stamp from her leather jacket and asked, "what color?"

Megan moved forward first and slipped down the left side of her shirt so that her shoulder was showing. "I'll have it here, in light green." She got herself stamped with the face of a smirking imp. Then it was Juvia's turn, she moved over and silently hoped that she could hide her Fairy Tail mark. Unfortunately it would probably fade off when she got the new one.

Suddenly the doors burst open and the guild fell into silence again, before the noise levels shot through the roof as Gray and the creepy man from before walked out. Gray walked by them, grabbing the back of Juvia's shirt and pulling her away. This drew Megan away from them as well as they started to leave the building. She noticed that his zodiac blue eyes were careful… but tired.

"Hey, Juvia hasn't gotten a guild stamp yet," Megan said but Gray interrupted with a wave of his hand. Juvia then noticed the crumpled paper in his grip.

"Doesn't matter, she can get one when we get back. We have a mission to do."

"Already?" Gray nodded and they walked out. They walked out but as Juvia glanced behind her she saw concern in Jeskyre's and Amy's eyes. And pleasure in the creepy man's gaze. She shivered in dread, not anticipation, at what was ahead of them.


	10. Chapter 10

"Hey Gray, what are we getting anyway?" Megan asked, still feeling nervous about their trip to Hellfire Imp; The guild whose guild mark now adorned the area between her neck and shoulder.

"A relic that's supposed to be essential in our mission," he replied.

"So a mission inside of a mission?" he nodded and Megan sighed. How did offering to help a girl find her lover lead to her joining a dark guild and following the two around? And it just had to be Hellfire Imp... she shook her head, refusing to let her mind wander down that set of memories.

She saw Juvia out of the corner of her eye. The water mage was watching her.

"Is there a problem Juvia?"

Juvia's gaze of mixed expressions switched to full surprise. She obviously didn't expect Megan to notice and turn to her. "Of course not! Juvia was just wondering why Megan is still with us, Juvia found her Gray-sama after all."

"Oh. Well, it's not as if I had anything better to do. Really all I would do otherwise is just hang around in my house doing nothing so I might as well. Besides you guys can't do all of this alone."

Gray shrugged while Juvia frowned slightly. Megan knew that the blunette was worried about her after what happened between her and Taka. But Megan was more or less over that bothersome twenty-something year old idiot. Although... maybe more on the 'less' side.

Megan couldn't shake off the feeling that Juvia was thinking of something deeper about her... could it be that Juvia was suspecting something about her past? A shiver went down her spine, she thought she could see a strand of highlighted red hair and hear a mocking chuckle ring in her ears. But she tried to ignore them and continue.

The walk was uneventful, although that didn't make Megan feel any better. She almost wished for some kind of conflict, maybe she would be able to lose all her edginess by going all out on someone. Maybe Juvia or Gray would spar with her? She'd probably loose anyway, judging on the strength they had shown previously.

* * *

><p>The village they arrived at; Akuhana, sat in-between the rugged plains and mysterious forests of the land south of lake Clover. Apparently a spy there knew the location of the closest relic, a long lost artifact hidden somewhere in the mountains of Bosco. They would be leaving Fiore entirely.<p>

"Hey Megan come here." she felt herself grabbed and pulled to the side, into the shadows of the tavern that she was standing outside of. The sun had set, but Gray was going to force them to continue overnight. They could easily fight off any attackers after all, and Megan's light ring could provide enough light for them to see by.

She looked into Juvia's serious face as the water mage let her go. "Umm Juvia? Is something wrong?"

"Juvia is just curious, how much do you know about guilds? she knows this is your first one after all. Juvia is just surprised you are so used to this kind of stuff," she said. There was something in her voice that unsettled Megan, it seemed way too suspicious of Juvia.

"There's a bar in my old village, mages would travel there from time to time and I would pick up some information about them, it taught me a lot." That was mostly the truth. She worked at the bar for awhile so that she could make some spare money, it's not as if she had needed it but she thought that setting some aside in case she needed it wasn't that bad of an idea—it proved worth it in the end.

"Oh Juvia understands, what kinds of guilds?" she inquired. Megan looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"All kinds of guilds... Juvia where is this leading?" she hoped she wasn't sounding too defensive, that would only encourage the probing.

"Nowhere, Juvia was just curious. She still remembers her first guild," Juvia looked up. Megan followed her gaze. _The stars are dim tonight._ She noted, watching the flickering lights.

"Juvia, what guild did you and Gray come from?" She felt her friend freeze instantly and suddenly the air grew cold between them where it was just fine before. She waited for an answer, but it didn't come, confusing Megan. "Juvia?" She looked over to her friend and saw a nervous expression on her face. "What, were you apart of another dark guild before this? You're not an evil person or anything Juvia, whether you're in a dark guild or not."

Her face grew red and she looked down. Megan wondered if perhaps it was too personal of a question- if she was prodding too much. _But it's not as if she's showing me the same courtesy! _

"Juvia... Juvia cannot say." Megan's flashed with mild astonishment.

"What do you mean you can't tell?"

"Juvia cannot say."

Megan's features slipped into annoyance. She narrowed her eyes and took a step back. "So you don't trust me enough to actually say?... but you actually expect me to tell you things about my past?!"

Juvia nodded, then turned with surprise and reached out for her with one hand. "Wait! That's not what Juvia meant!"

She snorted. "Then what does it mean Juvia? You're asking me questions about my past I really don't want to answer...and you know that!" She pushed away the outstretched hand gently. "But I can't do the same. I at least gave you an answer, but you can't at least give me the same honor."

"But Megan-"

Megan stared at the girl who had quickly become her friend. What was Juvia hiding that was so dark that she couldn't trust apparently her best friend about it? "Whatever Juvia, it doesn't matter. Let me know when you finally decide to trust me." She turned around and stalked away. Gray had gone to pick up supplies and talk to his contact in the village, Megan was sure that he wouldn't mind the company. She left the water mage behind her with an icy core in her chest.

She was growing tired of feeling that she could trust people only for them to not return anything of sort. Everyone just seemed eager to use her. She groaned in frustration, bringing her hand to her forehead and facepalming. The only thing she could do was stick around and help them out, things might work out anyway... hopefully...

She was fuming and pondering over their previous conversation when her black haired teammate bumped into her.

"Ack, watch it Megan!" Gray snapped, snatching himself to his feet.

"Sorry Gray... I wasn't watching where I was going," she said, trying to avoid a look at him and his... well... lack of clothing... "Umm, your clothes are gone." At least he was wearing his underwear.

He glanced down and cursed. "When did this happen‽" He looked back up at her and scrutinized her face. "What's wrong with you? You look like you were just hit in the head with a chair or something."

Megan wasn't sure if that last comment was supposed to make sense or not. Was being hit in the head with a chair common for him or something? Just what kind of pasts did him and Juvia have? "Oh it's nothing, me and Juvia just had a little... disagreement... that's all." She supposed she didn't have to trust him either, most likely he didn't trust her at all anyway.

"Oh okay." Gray walked past Megan, obviously intending to return to Juvia. Megan followed.

"So... How did it go? Where are we going now?"

"There's a gang of bandits defending the outer reaches of Fiore. It's in the hills. We'll have to be careful though, the hills in that area are pretty steep, and there are some areas where cliffs are common. We can't be careless and end up falling." He sounded tired and strained. _The whole situation must be getting to him. I wonder why though. _

"Edges of Fiore huh? Those are at least a few days away... How will we finish this mission within a week?"

"It'll be fine, we are going to hire a carriage with a magic SE plug and we can get there quickly. We just have to return it when we get back."

"A magic SE plug. Those are the things that allow you to use your magical energy to power a vehicle?" it was more of a statement of a question, but Gray gave a grunt that obviously meant yes.

Megan nodded, pushing her auburn hair behind her ears. The air was chilly and although mysterious, the night seemed safe for a drive to Bosco.

"Although, you are going to put some clothes on right Gray?"

"Of course!"

* * *

><p>"Do you really expect us to give up the relic that easily?" the bandit asked. His eyes were cast at them with mock disbelief.<p>

"Water Slicer!" screamed Juvia, launching a thin wave of water at the bandit. She flashed a glance at her teammate. "Megan, go help Gray-sama!"

The girl nodded in return as she rushed away to where a group of bandits clustered around a well-known ice make mage. Though it didn't look like he needed the help. Gray's ice battered his opponents and left them lying motionless on the ground. Only a third of them had been struck, and two thirds still remained locked in combat with him.

"Hey Gray, need a little help?" Megan called. She spun and slid her finger across the surface of one of her rings and raised her free hand to her opponents. Flurries of snowflakes, like a miniature blizzard cloud, buffeted and disposed of another third.

"These are my guys! Go find your own!"

Megan sighed as she turned away. Her gaze scanned the clifftop, looking for something to do. They had arrived at the resting place of the artifact, but were quickly set upon by bandits guarding the treasure. Apparently they were going to sell it. _We can't let that happen. _

Fighting on the clifftop and hiking all day in search for a relic in dry mountains wasn't her idea of fun, it's what hindered her from remaining a traveling mage. _Among other things..._ seconds ticked by, time that she didn't have. She saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye and she flailed as suddenly something pushed against her.

She stumbled forward into the blowing wind off the cliff beneath her. A dirty chuckle and a splat of moisture across her back told her of the ruthless bandit pushing her over the edge. A yelp of surprise escaped her in reply.

She felt herself fall through the air, but without the comfort knowing earth was there to catch her horror jumped down her throat and filled her from top to bottom. Her hands sought one of the rings on her hand, but there was no comfort there either; she had no rings to help the situation.

Her throat felt raw as a scream ripped itself out of her. If Juvia or Gray could hear her, perhaps they could save her somehow.

She heard a yell up above her, and felt herself collide with freezing ice. Pain raced through her body from the had impact. She leaned upwards and felt her spine reluctantly. Although she was in pain, she seemed to be fine.

She didn't bother to stand up, standing up on ice that barely surrounded her would most likely end up with another fall, and she had way more common sense than that.

There was another shout from above. The only thing she could pick out was "climb!"

She wasn't sure what the person was talking about, until a blast of cold wind struck her and she had to blink to prevent her eyes from freezing over. There was an icy staircase there. _Gray? _

She scrambled up the stairs quickly but carefully. Each stair-step sent another shiver of pain through her body. She was nearing the top when she finally saw her dark haired teammate frowning at her.

"Geez, can't you remain on the ground if you wish to help?" he asked as he grabbed her hand and supported her up the last couple steps. She blushed slightly and muttered a quick thanks. He was a lot more gentler than she expected he was.

_But he is still griping._ She noted with a glare at him, which he mirrored perfectly.

"Hey I got several of those guys off our back over there! So quit your complaining!" she snapped. She leaned down and brushed dirt and ice dust off her jeans. A thought popped into her mind and she looked up at Gray, who had just saved her from death.

"Well... Don't let yourself fall again, won't help anything," he muttered, walking away as he spoke.

Megan felt a twinge of something unrecognizable in her chest. She reached forward with on hand. "wait, Gray." He turned and looked at her with his expressionless mask.

"Hn?"

"You saved me."

"Ummm. Yeah. I did." He shifted his posture, Seeming to relax slightly "what about it?"

She felt herself grow slightly warm and hoped that her cheeks weren't turning red. She fiddled with one of her rings. "I thought... you didn't trust me..."

He sighed, drawing her to look up and at him. She shivered, her body couldn't decide whether to be hot from his gaze being directly on her, or cold from the breeze and climb up ice. "You're a friend and ally now. If we're going to be on the same team we need to learn how to trust each other.

Megan stared at the ice mage incredulously. He was going to accept her?

"So umm... did you finish them off?" she asked. He stopped moving, but wouldn't turn to face her.

"Yeah, let's go find Juvia." he continued walking. And once again. Megan was scurrying to keep up.

The water mage was still fighting the lead bandit when they got there. Megan's eyes widened. He was using magic, and it wasn't weak either.

"Hibiscus dance." The wind shuddered at the command of the chanted spell and a storm of golden petals swirled around him. A flick of his hand sent them hurtling at Juvia, who quickly threw up a barrier of water to shield herself. Megan thought she heard Juvia grunt at the impact.

"Hey Juvia!" Gray smashed his fists together and released an ice lance towards the bandit. "I'll help."

The bandit dodged the spear, but was effectively distracted enough so that a blast of water from Juvia sent him flying. He landed near the cliff edge with a loud thud and a moan rose from him.

Megan's eyes widened at Juvia's strength. _She- she can take out a bandit like that with one hit. _She knew that Juvia was a strong mage, having come from a guild with Gray.

But he was starting to get up. He groaned and got to his feet sourly. With a growl he cast another spell, sending red roses sharper than a sword at her, but it simply passed through her water-body.

Megan moved to help her but Gray stopped her.

"Might as well let her do it by herself. The stupid woman wants to impress me, and getting in the way would make it seem as though your trying to show her up," he said. Megan looked at him curiously. There was an odd hint of amusement in his voice. _Does Gray... Actually feel something? I thought he'd be a lot colder. _

There was a loud thud, and Megan's attention was abruptly shifted.

Juvia fired blast after blast of water as the bandit blocked and did the same, except firing blasts of razor sharp flowers back at her. They didn't do anything to her though; they just passed harmlessly through her water-body.

_The fight... Is at an impasse?_ She observed. Until she noticed water rising from the ground, forming an orb of blue water wrapped around him. "Water Lock."

She walked towards him, Megan couldn't see their faces but still felt a serious aura coming from their direction. Megan and Gray walked over to where the water mage was speaking to the starting-to-drown bandit.

"Juvia and her teammates heard that you have an artifact that Gray-sama wants. Where is it?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but began to choke and stutter so he closed it. He gestured wildly for her to led up, even holding up gestures meaning "I surrender"

Juvia lowered her raised hand, bringing the orb of water gently to the ground as she did so. As soon as the water evaporated the man looked up, only to be met with a spear of ice pointed straight down at him. "Speak," Juvia said, her voice cold.

"The- the artifact is in a chest on those rocks over there!" he pointed to a stack of boulders with a small cavern underneath. "It has all the valuables. I swear!"

Gray nodded and gave Megan the signal to go loot the chests. She obeyed with a nod and went to retrieve it. What she saw surprised her though.

A large object that almost seemed like a half of a giant claw lay cool and still in the shadows. It was incredibly heavy, and the ring mage found herself having to lift the relic with her magic as she carried it back to them.

_At least I made up slightly for needing to be saved. _She thought. A least a small part of her confidence was restored to her. Until it wilted at the sight of her two teammates. She could see Juvia's eyes burn with coldness, and Gray's dark mask to hide his emotions. _I still don't have a single true ally in this group... Do I?_

She loosed an uneasy smile as she sauntered over to them, hoping that she could settle some of the coldness towards her.

"Um... er... I got it..."

Gray looked coolly at her. Megan did as well, except hers was more icy than cool. "Smart idea. But, woah, that thing is huge!"

"Yea, thankfully one of my rings allows me to levitate it. But- how are we going to move this all the way back to the guild?" her tongue rolled over the last word with slight awkwardness, but Gray didn't seem to notice it.

"I don't know... Can you carry it for now?" Megan nodded. "Okay, then let's just figure it out on the way back." He started walking away, Megan turned and began to follow. But she was halted as a pale hand grabbed her shoulder.

"Don't lay your eyes on Gray-sama anymore... love rival..." she hissed. Before letting go and running after him. Megan stood, frozen, for awhile. For the past few days since the conversation at night. Juvia had been clearly avoiding Megan, even going so far as forcing Gray to allow her to ride up front with him as they drove. She heard them chatting the whole time, but couldn't tell what it was actually about.

But Juvia had spoken to her and worked with her throughout the whole fight, Megan almost thought the water mage had cooled down. _But I guess not. _

She might have gained Gray's trust. But now Juvia was clearly at odds with her.

Oh, how so many things should shift in a day.


End file.
